SEASON OF ECLIPSE

A celebrated writer runs afoul of terrorists and federal agents in Wolverton’s psychological thriller.

Marielle Wing, a popular novelist, lives in Los Angeles, where her only major problem is finding the right woman to spend her life with. Her life changes drastically, however, after a trip to New York City places her in the middle of a terrorist attack at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Her quick thinking allows her to photograph the perpetrators as they flee the scene; afterward, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security determines that she’s in danger of retaliation and must enter witness protection—at least until the terrorists are apprehended. After her faked death, the author is relocated to suburban Detroit, with only her cat, Dude, as company. Here, she’ll be known as Lorraine Kaminsky until further notice. Marielle whiles away weeks of solitude, desperate to get her old life back, until she sees a book announcement that doesn’t make sense. It claims that her publisher will soon be releasing her final, posthumous novel, Memory’s Trail, which was “not even the title of the book I was working on,” she assures her DHS handler. “Whatever Knopf has or thinks they have, the book isn’t mine.” Before long, Marielle breaks out of her confinement to investigate who’s behind the announcement and why. Over the course of this novel, Wolverton’s stark prose effectively captures Marielle’s confusion and paranoia, which seems to stalk her at every moment: “She couldn’t help but stop for a moment to scan the street again, pivoting 360 degrees on the sidewalk….A white cat walked along a low wall. A dog barked in a backyard. A mail carrier lugged his bag from house to house….The quiet felt unimaginably dangerous.” It’s the perfect thriller for readers who have a familiarity with the publishing industry, with plenty of familiar thriller tropes and coincidences recalibrated to fit the scale of a frustrated novelist’s life. It’s an offbeat premise, to be sure, and Wolverton manages to deliver across the board.

A literary airport novel that flies its readers to unexpected destinations.