After is a young adult novel written by Francine Prose

Francine Prose

Francine Prose is an American writer. Since March 2007 she has been the president of PEN American Center. She graduated from Radcliffe College in 1968 and received a Guggenheim fellowship in 1991....

. After a school shooting 50 miles away, the new grief and crisis counselor attempts to control the students' lives, using the recent tragedy as an excuse. The school gradually is controlled by the grip of the administration, and students who do not comply with the new rules disappear, never to be seen again. Its plot is reminiscent of Nineteen Eighty-Four

Nineteen Eighty-Four

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party...

by George Orwell

George Orwell

Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...

. This novel was first published in 2003, and the nearby school shooting is reminiscent of the Columbine High School massacre

Columbine High School massacre

The Columbine High School massacre occurred on Tuesday, April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine, an unincorporated area of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States, near Denver and Littleton. Two senior students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, embarked on a massacre, killing 12...

 in 1999.

Described in the New York Times Book Review as a "rich parable", this novel has as a theme the threat to freedom posed by an excessive concern for security.