Realization of what appeared, briefly and fictionally, as a "hypothetical" novel in one of Evenson's (Last Days, 2009, etc.) previous works.
In this combination of two classic science fiction tropes—the post-apocalyptic future and the protagonist who has no memory—a man who may or may not be named Josef Horkai wakes from what he is told has been 30 years of cold-sleep storage. Following the Kollaps, the landscape is pocked with craters, scarred by violence and poisoned by radiation; only a few scattered groups cling to survival in shelters and caves. Rasmus, the leader of the group, tells Horkai that he is the group's "fixer," needed to retrieve a mysterious cylinder that has been stolen by a rival group. Horkai's legs are useless and, according to Rasmus, he needs regular injections in his spine to stop a lethal disease spreading upwards to his brain. To get Horkai where he needs to go, two "mules," placid, literal minded individuals of limited intelligence, will carry him. Qanik and Qatik, the mules, don radiation-resistant suits, but Horkai needs none; more, he can heal from any injury and seems to be immortal. According to Qatik and Qanik—they refer to their group as the "hive," and neither expects to survive the trek—there are other, similar, survivors. It’s a formidable what's-going-on scenario, told from the point of view of a character who has every reason to be unreliable, that merited further development rather than just a slam-dunk ending. Satisfying if not particularly surprising or original.
Pub Date: April 10, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7653-3096-3
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Feb. 18, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Creepy and compelling.
A friendship between two very different women is threatened when long-buried secrets rise to the surface.
Lonely and overweight stay-at-home mother Frances Metcalfe feels like an outsider among the stylish moms at Seattle’s exclusive Forrester Academy. It doesn’t help that her son, Marcus, whom she fiercely loves in spite of his challenges, has ADHD and oppositional defiance disorder, which causes him to act out in alarming ways. She knows that her handsome husband, Jason, loves her, but she's painfully aware of the stares she gets that seem to ask how someone like him could be with someone like her. When the beautiful, elegant Kate Randolph befriends Frances, she’s thrilled, and Kate’s son, Charles, proves to be a calming influence on Marcus. Sleepovers for the kids and get-togethers with Kate and her husband, Robert, become the norm, and Kate brings out an adventurous side of Frances that she thought was lost underneath the stress of caring for Marcus. However, Kate’s 14-year-old daughter Daisy’s behavior is becoming increasingly self-destructive, calling attention to a darkness that lies just beneath the intoxicating veneer of Kate and Frances’ friendship. And there is real darkness here: One of these women is really Amber Kunik, who was involved in the sensationalized murder of 15-year-old Courtney Carey in 1996, supposedly while under the control of an abusive boyfriend—but is it Frances or Kate? Harding (The Party, 2017, etc.) expertly builds subtle menace and does her best to keep readers guessing as to which woman is Amber, whose heinous crimes are revealed through snippets of her chilling courtroom testimony. When Amber’s identity is finally revealed, the other woman must decide whether forgiveness is possible while confronting her own dark secret. A bit of gallows humor, such as when Frances fantasizes outrageous ways that she could kill a mom who’s particularly rude to her, leavens the dark subject matter.
Creepy and compelling.Pub Date: July 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-7424-7
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Scout Press/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2018
A fine novel for those who like to immerse themselves in alternative worlds.
Set in the future and reminiscent of The Hunger Games and Game of Thrones, this novel dramatizes a story of vengeance, warfare and the quest for power.
In the beginning, Darrow, the narrator, works in the mines on Mars, a life of drudgery and subservience. He’s a member of the Reds, an “inferior” class, though he’s happily married to Eo, an incipient rebel who wants to overthrow the existing social order, especially the Golds, who treat the lower-ranking orders cruelly. When Eo leads him to a mildly rebellious act, she’s caught and executed, and Darrow decides to exact vengeance on the perpetrators of this outrage. He’s recruited by a rebel cell and “becomes” a Gold by having painful surgery—he has golden wings grafted on his back—and taking an exam to launch himself into the academy that educates the ruling elite. Although he successfully infiltrates the Golds, he finds the social order is a cruel and confusing mash-up of deception and intrigue. Eventually, he leads one of the “houses” in war games that are all too real and becomes a guerrilla warrior leading a ragtag band of rebelliously minded men and women. Although it takes a while, the reader eventually gets used to the specialized vocabulary of this world, where warriors shoot “pulseFists” and are protected by “recoilArmor.” As with many similar worlds, the warrior culture depicted here has a primitive, even classical, feel to it, especially since the warriors sport names such as Augustus, Cassius, Apollo and Mercury.
A fine novel for those who like to immerse themselves in alternative worlds.Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-345-53978-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2013
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