A supernatural tale that offers a peculiar but engrossing vision of the future.
In Grass’ novel, a coroner in a post-apocalyptic world braves a nightmarish series of events involving mutants and a mythical beast.
The newest body in Frankie Attanasio’s morgue is the stuff of legend. Dreck is, or was, a creature whose stories parents told to scare misbehaving children. The body on the slab sports elklike antlers and three-fingered hands, and evidently, it’s no secret that Dreck is there; the Reconstruction Corps—essentially the future’s version of the FBI and CIA—wants to pick up the body. But a team can’t make it to Seven Points, in what used to be Pennsylvania, until an impending blizzard passes. In the first of a string of baffling turns, Frankie has a vision of Dreck cryptically telling him, “FIND!” Soon afterward, the coroner finds 13 coins on Dreck’s body, the same coins that a local, well-known “Anonymous Hero” uses as a calling card. Other people want the cadaver and coins, as well, including Seven Points’ mayor. Meanwhile, an odd “gathering of kooks and soapbox preachers, screechers and freaky creatures” forms outside the mortuary. Frankie may find solace and allies in the sewers, where some disfigured people live, but it’s clear that more aggressive types in the “upstairs city” are gunning for him. The coroner has other surprises waiting for him, as well, including some that relate to his own somewhat murky history. His story culminates in a daunting confrontation that unfolds in an otherworldly landscape, and it’s one that Frankie likely won’t survive.
Grass’ initially perplexing narrative becomes clearer as its progresses. It gradually clarifies mysterious figures and unknown motives as well as Frankie’s connection to Dreck. Its fictional world features quite a bit of violence, with fights that turn bloody and gory rather quickly. Nevertheless, there’s plenty of comic relief—in part due to recurring TV talk show Vox Oculii, whose host, Darcy Gantz, is prone to jumping to bizarre conclusions. For example, when the mayor tells her that Frankie isn’t cooperating with him regarding Dreck’s body, she throws out unfounded, sensationalist accusations against the coroner. Grass’ compelling dystopia is set in a future after a catastrophic Long War in which the protagonist fought as a soldier. Still, for a post-apocalyptic world, it appears that most infrastructure, at least in the United States, has remained intact. At the same time, a few people have odd, hilarious notions about the past; for example, some regard Sammy Davis Jr. and others from “the Packrats” as holy figures and consider publications such as Penthouse to be worthy ancient texts. Frankie makes for a solid hero who proves capable in scuffles, be they physical or verbal. The author deliberately steeps minor characters in obscurity, so their personalities don’t shine through until the latter half. However, mutant ally Truckie, who’s not exactly trustworthy, displays irresistible charm almost immediately, as when he bombards Frankie with weird but funny insults, such as “You bitch of a bastard.”
A supernatural tale that offers a peculiar but engrossing vision of the future.Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-73588-853-8
Page Count: 312
Publisher: Dickinson Publishing Group
Review Posted Online: Sept. 21, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Captivating, frightening, and a singular achievement.
As Ireland devolves into a brutal police state, one woman tries to preserve her family in this stark fable.
For Eilish Stack, a molecular biologist living with her husband and four children in Dublin, life changes all at once and then slowly worsens beyond imagining. Two men appear at her door one night, agents of the new secret police, seeking her husband, Larry, a union official. Soon he is detained under the Emergency Powers Act recently pushed through by the new ruling party, and she cannot contact him. Eilish sees things shifting at work to those backing the ruling party. The state takes control of the press, the judiciary. Her oldest son receives a summons to military duty for the regime, and she tries to send him to Northern Ireland. He elects to join the rebel forces and soon she cannot contact him, either. His name and address appear in a newspaper ad listing people dodging military service. Eilish is coping with her father’s growing dementia, her teenage daughter’s depression, the vandalizing of her car and house. Then war comes to Dublin as the rebel forces close in on the city. Offered a chance to flee the country by her sister in Canada, Eilish can’t abandon hope for her husband’s and son’s returns. Lynch makes every step of this near-future nightmare as plausible as it is horrific by tightly focusing on Eilish, a smart, concerned woman facing terrible choices and losses. An exceptionally gifted writer, Lynch brings a compelling lyricism to her fears and despair while he marshals the details marking the collapse of democracy and the norms of daily life. His tonal control, psychological acuity, empathy, and bleakness recall Cormac McCarthy’s The Road (2006). And Eilish, his strong, resourceful, complete heroine, recalls the title character of Lynch’s excellent Irish-famine novel, Grace (2017).
Captivating, frightening, and a singular achievement.Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9780802163011
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2023
Suspenseful, full of incident, and not obviously necessary.
Atwood goes back to Gilead.
The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), consistently regarded as a masterpiece of 20th-century literature, has gained new attention in recent years with the success of the Hulu series as well as fresh appreciation from readers who feel like this story has new relevance in America’s current political climate. Atwood herself has spoken about how news headlines have made her dystopian fiction seem eerily plausible, and it’s not difficult to imagine her wanting to revisit Gilead as the TV show has sped past where her narrative ended. Like the novel that preceded it, this sequel is presented as found documents—first-person accounts of life inside a misogynistic theocracy from three informants. There is Agnes Jemima, a girl who rejects the marriage her family arranges for her but still has faith in God and Gilead. There’s Daisy, who learns on her 16th birthday that her whole life has been a lie. And there's Aunt Lydia, the woman responsible for turning women into Handmaids. This approach gives readers insight into different aspects of life inside and outside Gilead, but it also leads to a book that sometimes feels overstuffed. The Handmaid’s Tale combined exquisite lyricism with a powerful sense of urgency, as if a thoughtful, perceptive woman was racing against time to give witness to her experience. That narrator hinted at more than she said; Atwood seemed to trust readers to fill in the gaps. This dynamic created an atmosphere of intimacy. However curious we might be about Gilead and the resistance operating outside that country, what we learn here is that what Atwood left unsaid in the first novel generated more horror and outrage than explicit detail can. And the more we get to know Agnes, Daisy, and Aunt Lydia, the less convincing they become. It’s hard, of course, to compete with a beloved classic, so maybe the best way to read this new book is to forget about The Handmaid’s Tale and enjoy it as an artful feminist thriller.
Suspenseful, full of incident, and not obviously necessary.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-385-54378-1
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Nan A. Talese
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
