THE BURIED

A horror-tinged, claustrophobic survival story.

After the Cataclysm, three families believe they are the only people left on Earth and live with the charismatic Dr. Moran (whose name contains echoes of Dr. Moreau) in an underground bunker. Ten years in, the three teens—Russian American Sash, Korean American Yuna, and Gabe, who is cued as Latinx—chafe at Dr. Moran’s strict rules, which include no touching. Steady Gabe collects facts and keeps the machinery of the bunker running, compassionate Yuna excels at the ballet classes taught by Sash’s mom and keeps her head down, and rebellious Sash defies Dr. Moran and crushes on Yuna (her crush is reciprocated but largely unspoken). The straightforward, simple narration switches between them in close third-person chapters as they discover that Dr. Moran may be lying to them about everything. The bunker, littered with 1980s detritus, bathed in dim red light, and filled with their tiny collection of families, is tightly controlled by Dr. Moran, who suits up and exits each night to see if the world is habitable yet. This novel begins in slow motion with a classic dystopian arc but evolves into gripping light horror as the teens begin to discover the truth about the day the world ended and about Dr. Moran, who hides a fanatical cruelty beneath her seemingly benevolent exterior.

A compelling and grim new entry into an evergreen genre.