I read this one quickly, because it was engrossing and I had to keep reading. It reminded me of The Road ( a book I loved long before Oprah did) except that White Horse seemed much more void of hope and gave us a clear idea of what happened to bring the world to its knees. The book goes back and forth between "then" ( before the world goes to hell) and "now" ( after the collapse, as Zoe is trying to survive). I really did like being able to see the collapse of the world, and how she ended up in her "now", but the truth was revealed slowly, upping the tension. And boy, The Road really had nothing on this one in terms of gritty horrors. There were some seriously dark, cringe-inducing moments. And then, when I thought I knew how things were, things change. And a shred of hope does develop, which creates a tiny light at the end of the deep dark tunnel Zoe has been in. There are some serious twists and turns in her journey, and the ending was unexpected but welcome. I've heard this is first in a trilogy, and I am very interested to see where her journey would continue. This is not for the faint of heart. In terms of tone, I would put it in the same category as The Road: very dark, full of the evils of the world both real and imagined.