I drive a lot. My commute to work is about 90 minutes one-way, and my USMC Reserve unit is located nearly three hours away from home. When you do as much driving as I do, you get a little sick of just listening to music, so I’ve taken to listening to a lot of podcasts and audiobooks in recent years.

I’ve always been a voracious reader, but I just don’t have a lot of time anymore, so I have really grown to love audiobooks. This past weekend, before heading down for drill, I decided to browse for a new audiobook, and came across a novella by William Forstchen called Day of Wrath. It looked interesting – especially given recent events – so I decided to give it a “read” on my drive this weekend.

Many of you reading this may recognize the name William Forstchen. He is the author of the extremely popular novel One Second After, which details the woes of life after an EMP attack. It’s a great book, full of plenty of action and heart-wrenching drama that will leave you questioning life. Sounds like happy times, right?

No, obviously it’s not happy times. There’s a reason for the somber tone and that reason is because Forstchen really wrote this book to serve as a cautionary tale for what could happen if the United States failed to harden its electrical grid against EMP. It’s not your typical post-apocalyptic action-adventure fairytale where the hero just rides off into the sunset after beating the badguy and stealing his woman. But don’t worry: there is still plenty of action. I highly recommend you read it if you never have.

But I digress; we’re talking about Day of Wrath, not One Second After.

True to Forstchen’s style, Day of Wrath is a cautionary tale. But instead of focusing on something as unlikely and fantastic as a large-scaled EMP attack, this book’s focus is on something far more likely: a coordinated terror attack by ISIS terrorists like the one recently launched in Paris, except in multiple locations all over the United States all at once.

I want to be honest with you: This book is absolutely sickening to read. It’s not fun, it’s not uplifting, and it definitely doesn’t warm your heart. Forstchen doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to describing the methods that these terrorists will use here in the States when they decided to act. We all obviously know about the recent Paris terror attacks, but have you ever heard of the Beslan School Siege? Read that article and learn what it is that radical terrorists are capable of doing. The sorts of mass murders and school killings that we have seen in America pale in comparison to what was done to those Russian children.

I wish this books wasn’t relevant, but it really is – in more ways than one. Not only are the vivid descriptions of the terrorists’ twisted acts right on the money, but the methods by which they are able to execute these attacks are plausible. Folks, I have been saying for years now that the sort of attack described in Day of Wrath is the most realistic EMDCOA (that is Enemy’s Most Dangerous Course of Action for you non-military folks) that we face. These attacks are just so easy to execute, and our society has no idea just how vulnerable it really is.

I know that I’m not painting a happy picture right now; this isn’t a happy subject. But don’t let that keep you from reading this book. Despite how bleak of a picture it paints, it’s a page-turner that will keep you on the edge of your seat. You won’t be able to put it down, and after only 180 pages, you will be disappointed that there isn’t more.

More importantly than that, however, is that the legitimately emotional reaction that this book will cause you to have will motivate you. It will interject a new fire into your training, because despite the fact that this book is fiction, we all know that it’s way too realistic to be comfortable. Forstchen’s writing will take your threat analysis to the next level by giving a human face to the real threat into whose eyes we now gaze.

Do yourself a favor and read this book.

Josh