THE LAST OF THE MENTALLY ILL

Rauch’s speculative YA novel focuses on patients and staff at a shadowy facility involved in a shocking conspiracy.

Sixteen-year-old Chester Owens has been a resident of Greendale, one of a network of mysterious “educational facilities,” for as long as he can remember. He and other young people take classes and receive treatment for mental illnesses while the staff “constantly collect[s] data on everyone.” Socially awkward Chester has been diagnosed with multiple anxiety disorders and lives a regimented and largely solitary existence, though he eventually becomes friendly with his lively new roommate (and reformed bully), Rolland Shearer, and Greendale’s head of security, Desmond Jones. Desmond—who, like Chester, is a person of color—was adopted when he was young by a wealthy white real-estate magnate with a racist reputation. After Desmond began dating a politically aware Black college student, Simone Thompson, he became estranged from his adoptive parents; later, he and Simone broke up. But now, years later, she’s taken a job at Greendale, acting as a mentor to Chester. She’s also involved with the Truth Brigade, an organization of muckraking journalists and hackers. Ostensibly, all of the residents of Greendale will one day transition to autonomous, adult lives. However, it turns out that the facility, and its parent company, Leto—run by cagy Head of Operations Claire Steinfeld—have an appalling secret, and it’s one that directly involves Chester and all the other young people under its roof.

The most compelling aspect of Rauch’s novel is its worldbuilding, as it presents a vision of a near-future New York City, outside Greendale’s walls, that’s not that far removed from reality, with a few thoughtful additions. For example, boats have become a popular form of rapid transit, and social clubs have arisen in which people wear buttons during their commutes to show that they’re amenable to conversations with strangers. Also, a compassionate squad of officers (who aren’t police) aids homeless people—a notion that’s been debated for years in the real-life New York. Other developments, such as the fact that several companies in this brave new world employ controversial “growth technology” that involves incubating babies “in a big vat,” contribute to the futuristic atmosphere while also adding to the greater mystery. Rauch has a way with similes, as when he describes bus passengers that “shifted and rattled like eggs in a carton,” or a character’s voice as “unpredictably wispy and scratchy, like a child learning to play the violin.” That said, the narrative often lingers in the analytical minds of its characters; this tendency, along with the inclusion of extensive flashbacks, slows the pace to a crawl at times. Near the end, though, the story suddenly embraces a medical-thriller twist that calls to mind the work of Robin Cook in Coma (1977) and Brain (1981). The major revelation, which ties into the novel’s title, is certainly clever, but it comes far too late to have a great impact—and not long afterward, the story wraps up far too neatly.

An intriguing futuristic thriller that’s hampered by structural and pacing issues.