The Arrest by Jonathan Lethem

Like most apocalyptic stories there are two groups - the leaders and the followers who must work together or perish. After a horrible event known as the Arrest small communities formed going back to the basics as machinery and tech stopped working. Farming, butchering, canning and moving these goods back and forth take up every day. Journeyman now lives in a small coastal town in Maine where his sister and her partner operate a farm and Journeyman has taken on the duties of UPS, mail and Amazon delivering goods and news. Life feels simple and less scary away from the chaos of the outside world until one day when an old friend and coworker shows up in a nuclear powered giant digger. His arrival does not sit well with the town or others that are hunting for him and begins to wedge the town apart. Jonathan Lethem's command of the English language is extraordinary and I found myself happily looking up new vocabulary. I enjoyed the parallel lives that Journeyman, his sister and Todbaum led in the past in Los Angeles and how misplaced Todbaum was dropped into the bucolic farming community. This is less of a science fiction nightmare and more a story of community in crisis.  4 stars