SUPERBUGS

This dystopian thriller follows a scrappy group of survivors during a Pandemic Era.

In the year 2090, a series of viral plagues has nearly dismantled civilization. People no longer work, living on government rations in semipermanent lockdown. Lily Brayburn is the hopeful center of her community, comprising about 20 people who live in an apartment building. She copes with a dreary life in the Pandemic Era, filled with a Cannibal Gang and victim-snatching “cure crews,” by believing she’ll see her parents again. Most residents respect her leadership. An over-the-hill military veteran named Faulkner is the exception. Though valuable for his sharpshooting skills, he’s a misogynist who loathes women in command. After prisoners escape from the Novel Corporation’s Homeless Detention Center No. 10, Lily finds a teenager hiding in her building. This is 17-year-old Mabel, who is six months pregnant. Though Lily tries to secure Mabel in her room, Faulkner is canny and finds out about her. He has failed to turn any residents against Lily in favor of his own leadership, but he plans to use Mabel’s presence during a routine head count by government officials to his advantage. Meanwhile, Mabel’s lover, Ben, remains at large, trying to avoid the Novel Corporation’s undercover agents, who always want fresh victims on whom to test vaccines. Tameem uses a touch of black humor to follow humanity’s downward spiral in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. A succession of increasingly horrid coronaviruses damages society until the Great Plague of 2082 kills almost everyone. The wealthy, including the racist Gloria Van Leuven, create Environmental Zones to enjoy. Medical specialists like Victor Stark search for cures in a morally bankrupt system that disenfranchises people and then uses their bodies. Faulkner, standing in for the 45th president of the United States, is the author’s “stable genius” who uses misplaced swagger to bully everyone. Some readers may be put off by a pulpy thriller set against the backdrop of a real-world health crisis, but others will find it cathartic. Solid worldbuilding allows the finale to boil over into a potential sequel.

A bold dystopian tale that predicts a chilling entry for 2020 in the history books.