FOSSILS 2084

Beres’ (The Girl With 39 Graves, 2019, etc.) latest novel envisions a United States that’s fallen into dystopian disarray as a consequence of climate change.

In the not- so-distant future, critically unstable environmental conditions have taken their toll on civilized society. Wealthy oligarchs control strongholds of power; dogs are becoming a rarity due to the unavailability of meat; and among many citizens the name “Trump” has become taboo due, in part, to his administration’s anti-environmentalist policies. In the midst of these new norms, a plane full of evangelical protestors, headed to Florida, is forced to attempt an emergency landing. The plane, piloted by artificial intelligence, crashes onto the golf course of a gated retirement community called Sunset Villages. Among the passengers is Sheila Plumley Martinez, an agnostic woman accompanying her devout husband, Sam. When Sam is injured, she finds herself relying on the kindness of local married couple Bianca Muhammad Washington and “Big Bill” Pisani. They were the first people on the ground to reach the crash site, and they pulled Sheila and Sam from the wreckage. In subsequent days, Sheila and Bianca begin to experience a deep mutual attraction as they become involved each other’s lives. Beres’ prose is straightforward but suffers from a lack of vividly descriptive language. Readers may also find it difficult to warm up to certain characters, but, given time, readers will likely appreciate their personal and philosophical commentary. The details of Beres’ world are mostly communicated through dialogue or oblique narrative comments; even the characters themselves are unsure of the accuracy of information about the world outside their insular community. As a result, a clear, comprehensive picture of the setting never fully emerges. Nevertheless, as a call to action, Beres’ environmentalist observations are commanding, and his tone is occasionally scathing.

A sobering but somewhat roughly executed demand for environmental justice.