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2019 | Dystopia | Fiction & Poetry | Thriller
Breaking: Nuclear weapon detonates over Washington
Breaking: London hit, thousands feared dead
Breaking: Munich and Scotland hit. World leaders call for calm
Historian Jon Keller is on a trip to Switzerland when the world ends. As the lights go out on civilization, he wishes he had a way of knowing whether his wife, Nadia and their two daughters are still alive. More than anything, Jon wishes he hadn't ignored Nadia's last message.
Twenty people remain in Jon's hotel. Far from the nearest city and walled in by towering trees, they wait, they survive.
Then one day, the body of a young girl is found. It's clear she has been murdered. Which means that someone in the hotel is a killer.
As paranoia descends, Jon decides to investigate. But how far is he willing to go in pursuit of justice? And what kind of justice can he hope for, when society as he knows it no longer exists?
Hanna Jameson
(Author)
| Published by | Penguin Books/ Viking |
Nuclear War Science Fiction Mystery
Main Image Courtesy: Viking.
Images And Data Courtesy Of: Penguin Books/ Viking.
This content (including text, images, videos and other media) is published and used in accordance
with Fair Use.
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James Koppert (2698 KP) rated
Mar 5, 2020
I was looking forward to a murder mystery style book with nuclear apocalyptic themes as both of those are things I find very interesting- but it was more like a bored man's diary where he constantly inserts subtle brags about how much of a ladies man he is or how strong of a leader he is (which he isn't. He rarely ever took charge in a situation.) The main character is unlikable.
You spend the whole book telling yourself that 'anytime now, something is going to happen', and it's not until the last 10 pages or so that anything does.
And the ending... The reveal about who was the actual killer... I'm sorry, but: What the f*ck.
Set in present day, it follows Jon Keller, an American Historian, and his fellow guests at a hotel in Switzerland, following a nuclear war. Pretty much every major city in the world has been bombed. The majority of guests have left, trying to get back to their homes even thought the media has advised them against doing so (no aeroplanes, no public transport). Jon and a small group of other guests decide to stay and make the best of it.
Whilst checking water supplies in the roof storage tanks, they find the body of a child, and Jon decides to investigate.
The book is written in Jon's voice as he writes a diary, a history, of his and the other guests survival, and his investigation.
I really liked this. It wasn't sensationalised, it all seemed so reasonable, and in our current worldwide political climate, so plausible - which is what made it really scary. It did have a bit of the "Huis Clos" (a play by Jean Paul Sartre) feeling about it: a feeling of being trapped with the same day coming around again and again, no escape, stuck with the same people that you neither particularly like or trust. And I liked that about it.
By the way, in the advent of a nuclear holocaust, Switzerland would seem to be a pretty civilised place to be 'stuck'.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Viking for the copy of this book to read and review!
