DROWNING PRACTICE

A 13-year-old girl and her mother confront the end of the world on a road trip in this dark, engaging novel.

In January, everyone across the globe has the same dream of a man—described as a father in the logic of the dream—telling them that the world will end in November but that it isn't their fault. The revelation that the same dream has appeared to every person on Earth, with only mild variation, plunges the U.S. into a state of hollowed-out normality. Many people continue working because "it was what others expected of them and...no one seemed to have a better idea," but a generalized depressive apathy has rendered everything a husk of its former self; people sleep everywhere, shelves are largely barren, teachers show up but don't teach, and the threat of violence lurks everywhere as people struggle to find reasons to survive until the world ends. For Mott, a 13-year-old girl, trying to continue her own middle school education and care for her reclusive mother, Lyd, fill her time. But when Lyd receives a call from her abusive ex-husband, David, who works for the CIA and spies on her constantly, to tell her he'll be arriving soon to bring her and Mott to live with him, she decides to take her daughter on the run to show her what she can of the world before it all ends—or David catches them. The world Meginnis crafts for what could be the last nine months of life on Earth is haunting and haunted, a reality in which people who are too afraid of death to either take their own lives or wait until the end of the world beg strangers to kill them. But against this grim backdrop, Meginnis engagingly finds ways to bring Mott and Lyd real happiness while avoiding clichés or tired, easy answers.

Twisty and moving, this is an apocalypse novel that will keep readers guessing till the last page.