An absorbing story of the end of civilization relayed through a handful of tortured characters.
Life in a post-apocalyptic community may be just as harrowing as that in the devastated outside world in Flinders’ debut dystopian novel.
In April 2021, Zoe Wilkes works at a Parker’s Island, Maryland, restaurant with her best friend and roommate, Ben. They’re sleeping off hangovers when Ben’s older sister, Bex, calls them on their landline. The power has gone out nearly everywhere and cellphones don’t work, so the two drive to Bex’s house in Blair Heights, where she has a generator. A heavy traffic jam, however, prevents them from getting there; they eventually get separated, and Zoe opts to return home. After she endures a mugging by a group of teenagers, she ends up in an “off-the-grid housing community” built by former environmental lobbyist Jacob Malin. His friend Miles Kirby, who used to work on cybersecurity for the government, long feared that terrorists could hack infrastructure systems—which is apparently what happened in “the attack.” Life inside the walls is initially good, with more than 100 people working together to maintain a stockpile of food and other necessities; Zoe and Miles develop a relationship and live together. But soon, the mood within the community darkens, including that of Miles. Then Zoe stumbles upon information about what’s really happening during mysterious “supply runs”—a revelation that upends her life all over again. Flinders energetically details the atmosphere of the uncertain post-blackout world; for example, Zoe is terrified by an unseen threat in the darkness when her car runs out of gas and later feels comfort when gripping the switchblade that Ben gives her. As a result, it’s somewhat disappointing when the story shifts to the smaller community setting. Nevertheless, this choice simplifies the plot, focusing on how internal conflicts and secrets contribute to societal instability; as Zoe aptly puts it, “the world shrank…for all of us.” Flinders’ descriptions sparkle, as when a mass of lumber and parts is called “an unorganized Home Depot with no walls” and when “wilted and dying flowers” are sitting in a vase after someone’s death.
An absorbing story of the end of civilization relayed through a handful of tortured characters.Pub Date: July 11, 2017
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 203
Publisher: Pruple Pill Publshing
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.
A woman accused of shooting her husband six times in the face refuses to speak.
"Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband. They had been married for seven years. They were both artists—Alicia was a painter, and Gabriel was a well-known fashion photographer." Michaelides' debut is narrated in the voice of psychotherapist Theo Faber, who applies for a job at the institution where Alicia is incarcerated because he's fascinated with her case and believes he will be able to get her to talk. The narration of the increasingly unrealistic events that follow is interwoven with excerpts from Alicia's diary. Ah, yes, the old interwoven diary trick. When you read Alicia's diary you'll conclude the woman could well have been a novelist instead of a painter because it contains page after page of detailed dialogue, scenes, and conversations quite unlike those in any journal you've ever seen. " 'What's the matter?' 'I can't talk about it on the phone, I need to see you.' 'It's just—I'm not sure I can make it up to Cambridge at the minute.' 'I'll come to you. This afternoon. Okay?' Something in Paul's voice made me agree without thinking about it. He sounded desperate. 'Okay. Are you sure you can't tell me about it now?' 'I'll see you later.' Paul hung up." Wouldn't all this appear in a diary as "Paul wouldn't tell me what was wrong"? An even more improbable entry is the one that pins the tail on the killer. While much of the book is clumsy, contrived, and silly, it is while reading passages of the diary that one may actually find oneself laughing out loud.
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-30169-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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