"The Dead and The Gone" is a companion book, rather than a sequel to "Life As We Knew It". The same events unfold in this book as in "Life As We Knew It", but center on Alex Morales, a 17-year-old boy living in Manhattan with his large, Catholic, Puerto Rican family. As the disaster unfolds in the city, the horror is magnified by the lack of resources and lack of compassion in the metropolitan setting. Alex struggles to care for his two younger sisters, not knowing if their parents have survived, and must barter and "body shop" (stripping sellable goods off the dead) in order to bring home the precious cans of food he needs to keep his sisters fed. Throughout their ordeal, their faith and love sustain them, and Alex's bravery is quite remarkable. This book does not dwell quite so much on the events involving the moon, so that a reader who hadn't read "Life As We Knew It" might find the narrative a bit abrupt. However, reading it as a second book in a series, "The Dead and The Gone" was a moving story which left me eager for the third.