Familiar eco-angst and Covid dread inspire this well-wrought, melancholy survival tale.
A group fleeing post-apocalyptic chaos travels to a survival bunker on a private island in Bennett’s speculative thriller.
A series of devastating plagues and pandemics over six decades has destroyed most of the functioning society in North America (and, possibly, in the rest of the world). In Cascadia, Washington, a houseful of holdouts and refugees has coalesced around Grant, the son of a successful inventor whose ubiquitous, low-maintenance solar devices allow technology to function despite the loss of infrastructure. The household is not immune to attacks by unfriendly have-nots or from the onslaught of Pan4, the deadliest contagion yet, which is spreading across the land. Fleeing an advancing wildfire (climatological menaces like rising sea levels, superstorms, earthquakes, and tsunamis are omnipresent concerns), the group goes to sea in a small boat and makes for “Avalon,” a rocky private island where Grant had the foresight to maintain “Camelot,” a survival shelter. It proves to be a meager, isolated, and claustrophobic haven for the four characters who take turns narrating: There’s Miriam, whose shadowy background includes a prison stay; Grant’s sister, Pearl, an aging novelist whose ailments are increasing; and resourceful doctor Mike, who finds himself falling slowly into the irreversible “zombie” catatonic state that prefigures the end stage of Pan4. Rather than serving up suspense and survivalist prepper action, this bleak tale deals in the fatalistic drama of slow deprivation, entropy, and regret as supplies diminish and safeguards fail. Readers may be reminded of introspective, worst-case-scenario survival sagas like The Mosquito Coast. The narrative is littered with literary references (particularly to The Wind in the Willows, The Phantom Tollbooth, and the works of Tolkien) and distinguished by the author’s brand of future-speak slang (“Puerto de Luz was high civ enough to have service for Mike’s vid to work, at least ’til the hurricane hit”), which avoids lending a too-heavy SF gloss to the proceedings.
Familiar eco-angst and Covid dread inspire this well-wrought, melancholy survival tale.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 353
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: June 25, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A standout in the series.
The sixth adventure of Harvard symbology professor Robert Langdon explores the mysteries of human consciousness, the demonic projects of the CIA, and the city of Prague.
“Ladies and gentlemen...we are about to experience a sea change in our understanding of how the brain works, the nature of consciousness, and in fact…the very nature of reality itself.” But first—Langdon’s in love! Brown’s devoted readers first met brilliant noetic scientist Katherine Solomon in The Lost Symbol (2009); she’s back as a serious girlfriend, engaging the committed bachelor in a way not seen before. The book opens with the pair in a luxurious suite at the Four Seasons in Prague. It’s the night after Katherine has delivered the lecture quoted above, setting the theme for the novel, which features a plethora of real-life cases and anomalies that seem to support the notion that human consciousness is not localized inside the human skull. Brown’s talent for assembling research is also evident in this novel’s alter ego as a guidebook to Prague, whose history and attractions are described in great and glowing detail. Whether you appreciate or skim past the innumerable info dumps on these and other topics (Jewish folklore fans—the Golem is in the house!), it goes without saying that concision is not a goal in the Dan Brown editing process. Speaking of editing, the nearly 700-page book is dedicated to Brown’s editor, who seems to appear as a character—to put it in the italicized form used for Brownian insight, Jason Kaufman must be Jonas Faukman! A major subplot involves the theft of Katherine’s manuscript from the secure servers of Penguin Random House; the delightful Faukman continues to spout witty wisecracks even when blindfolded and hogtied. There’s no shortage of action, derring-do, explosions, high-tech torture machines, attempted and successful murders, and opportunities for split-second, last-minute escapes; good thing Langdon, this aging symbology wonk, never misses swimming his morning laps. Readers who are not already dyed-in-the-wool Langdonites may find themselves echoing the prof’s own conclusion regarding the credibility of all this paranormal hoo-ha: At some point, skepticism itself becomes irrational.
A standout in the series.Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9780385546898
Page Count: 688
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
Soapy, suspenseful fun.
A remembered horror plunges a pregnant woman into a waking nightmare.
Tegan Werner, 23, barely recalls her one-night stand with married real estate developer Simon Lamar; she only learns Simon’s name after seeing him on the local news five months later. Simon wants nothing to do with the resulting child Tegan now carries and tells his lawyer to negotiate a nondisclosure agreement. A destitute Tegan is all too happy to trade her silence for cash—until a whiff of Simon’s cologne triggers a memory of him drugging and raping her. Distraught and eight months pregnant, Tegan flees her Lewiston, Maine, apartment and drives north in a blizzard, intending to seek comfort and counsel from her older brother, Dennis; instead, she gets lost and crashes, badly injuring her ankle. Tegan is terrified when hulking stranger Hank Thompson stops and extricates her from the wreck, and becomes even more so when he takes her to his cabin rather than the hospital, citing hazardous road conditions. Her anxiety eases somewhat upon meeting Hank’s wife, Polly—a former nurse who settles Tegan in a basement hospital room originally built for Polly’s now-deceased mother. Polly vows to call 911 as soon as the phones and power return, but when that doesn’t happen, Tegan becomes convinced that Hank is forcing Polly to hold her prisoner. Tegan doesn’t know the half of it. McFadden unspools her twisty tale via a first-person-present narration that alternates between Tegan and Polly, grounding character while elevating tension. Coincidence and frustratingly foolish assumptions fuel the plot, but readers able to suspend disbelief are in for a wild ride. A purposefully ambiguous, forward-flashing prologue hints at future homicide, establishing stakes from the jump.
Soapy, suspenseful fun.Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781464227325
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
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