Fiction

Review: Fallout by Liz Kay

October 16, 2026

Synopsis:

For the military families who live in Benjamin Franklin Village, family life isn’t just family life, but a vital front in the Cold War. It’s a patriotic act, a performance of the American Way. They have backyard cookouts and go to high school football games and try to live like they aren’t in a perpetual state of almost-war. They smile outwardly, join social clubs, and hide the unhappiness that goes on behind closed doors. That is, until the Vaughns arrive. Still reeling from the loss of her mother, sixteen-year-old Samantha Vaughn is a wild child looking for trouble, but when she finds it, her father’s rank means she’s the only kid who won’t pay some kind of price for it. When her social circle shrinks overnight to prissy but pretty Becky Jennings and surly, anti-social David Williams, the frictions between the three of them turn to dangers that none of them recognize. For the women, sturdy, seasoned Army wives Madge Williams and Abby Jennings, Colonel Vaughn’s second wife, Joanne, pulls them out of their ’50s-era military culture and into the modern age. As a newly liberated Madge pushes at the boundaries of an unhappy marriage and Abby struggles to find her place in their changing friendship, Abby’s tight grip on old loyalties keep her from recognizing the threats circling her own family and her friend’s. And when a mysterious package is left on the front step of one of their homes, someone won’t survive the explosive fallout.

Review:

If you are looking for a book that is different and feels more like you’re being allowed to come along for a certain period of time, this is the one for you.

I was born in the 1980s, and some of the historical events mentioned felt somehow familiar, even though I wasn’t old enough to fully understand everything at the time. It felt like a reminder of the days when Germany was still divided.

The story is about military families stationed in Germany, especially the wives and children. They are far away from what they call home and have to adapt to their environment while trying to hold on to a sense of normalcy and their culture. It feels like they are trying to replicate what they had at home.

This also puts them in a situation where there is not much outside of that bubble. They are constrained and confined by that environment in a way, and especially for the wives, there is not much of an alternative besides staying at home and taking care of the family.

Not having your loved ones and extended family around you is never easy, and seeing them rely on each other while facing the typical struggles of family life, such as problems in a marriage or children acting out, with military life added on top, is not easy.

The story is more of a quiet one that allowed me to be part of their lives for a short period of time. It’s not a book that immediately grabs your attention and throws things at you. Instead, it invites you to come along, and I appreciated it for what it did.

🌙 Recension: Fallout by Liz Kay
📚 Genre: Historical Fiction
📅 Release Date: October 13, 2026
📖 Publisher: Red Hen Press
📗 available in various formats
📱 Read as: Kindle
💸 I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
🗣️ Language: English
📆 Pages: 320
⭐️ 3.5/5