Amanda and Clay head out to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a vacation: a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter, and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they’ve rented for the week. But a late-night knock on the door breaks the spell. Ruth and G. H. are an older black couple—it’s their house, and they’ve arrived in a panic. They bring the news that a sudden blackout has swept the city. But in this rural area—with the TV and internet now down, and no cell phone service—it’s hard to know what to believe.
Should Amanda and Clay trust this couple—and vice versa? What happened back in New York? Is the vacation home, isolated from civilization, a truly safe place for their families? And are they safe from one another?
This book was more of a slice of life than mystery than I thought it would be, and not in a bad way.
The omniscient narrator lets the reader look into the different perspectives of all the characters. This was especially entertaining as a character will think one thing, say another, and another character will think that they don't believe them.
I'm not sure if this count's as a spoiler, but the mystery of what happened in the world at large is never explicitly answered. The narrator will only give snippets of things occurring outside of the house. But like I said, I was more curious about the character's reaction to the same lack of info and to each other's flaws.
Overall it was an enjoyable read. Just expect more drama and less mystery.
A normal middle class family from the city books an AirBnB out in the country for a vacation. A chance to be away from it all in a place that is very away from it all. They arrive to find they don't have cell service, but the home does have cable and internet. All is well. Until it's not. The owners show up unannounced, asking to stay, offering to refund the money. They report a blackout in the city. This novel really feels like this is how the world would end from my point of view, living down a dirt road, away from too much but still close enough to easily obtain the conveniences of civilization. I really liked this novel; it's very good. But also I am at my limit for apocalyptic fiction. I do not wish to imagine what it would be like if the world ended in …
A normal middle class family from the city books an AirBnB out in the country for a vacation. A chance to be away from it all in a place that is very away from it all. They arrive to find they don't have cell service, but the home does have cable and internet. All is well. Until it's not. The owners show up unannounced, asking to stay, offering to refund the money. They report a blackout in the city. This novel really feels like this is how the world would end from my point of view, living down a dirt road, away from too much but still close enough to easily obtain the conveniences of civilization. I really liked this novel; it's very good. But also I am at my limit for apocalyptic fiction. I do not wish to imagine what it would be like if the world ended in front of my eyes anymore. Content warning for some body horror stuff involving teeth near the end.
This book was incredible and I don’t want to write anything very detailed about it because it’s really quite something to watch it unfold. I know some people have knocked it for being “yet another dystopia,” but if that’s the only thing they’re getting out of a tightly wound psychological drama that’s far more about race & class than it is the weird shit going bump in the night… then idmfk. But check this out; I gobbled it right down after having trouble focusing on books this month.
DUMB AND BORING!!! NOTHING HAPPEN!!!! NOTHING HAPPEN AND THEN TWO THING HAPPEN AND THEN STORY ENDS!!!!! I'M CRYING!!!!!! I liked the beginning and the end though. It's where the satire and the horror stuff is at its best. I kind of wish it was written more like a B horror movie. It teases all this grim shit happening all over the world with sneaky little winks but you don't really see the effects of it until the very end. I wish this book was a different book. If this book was a different book that I liked, then I would like the book. This is what I call literary criticism. This is what I call DUMB AND BORING!!!!!
It's been a while since I've finished a book in one sitting. Literally the only reason I finished this book at all is because I listened to it over my shift at work, and I was essentially a captive audience. Thank God this was a short book, because this was not a good book.
So we have one family, a working mom, a somewhat dense dad, and their two teenage kids, who rent an AirBnB for a period of time (did they even say how long?). This particular house is out in the middle of nowhere in Long Island, no cellular reception, and very few (and distant) neighbors. Shortly into their stay, we meet the other family, the owners of the home, older, wealthy, African Americans. Spooked by apparently a power outage on the east coast, they decided to flee to their vacation home and sort things out there. …
It's been a while since I've finished a book in one sitting. Literally the only reason I finished this book at all is because I listened to it over my shift at work, and I was essentially a captive audience. Thank God this was a short book, because this was not a good book.
So we have one family, a working mom, a somewhat dense dad, and their two teenage kids, who rent an AirBnB for a period of time (did they even say how long?). This particular house is out in the middle of nowhere in Long Island, no cellular reception, and very few (and distant) neighbors. Shortly into their stay, we meet the other family, the owners of the home, older, wealthy, African Americans. Spooked by apparently a power outage on the east coast, they decided to flee to their vacation home and sort things out there. Things....do not get sorted.
This is billed as a thriller, a horror, a mystery to be solved, but I felt none of that reading this. Certainly some strange events occur, but I was hoping it was all building towards some Big Reveal at the end. I felt intense dislike for Amanda, and vague dislike for just about everyone else. The writing seems like it attempts to be prose-y and flowing, but comes off excessively wordy and clunky instead. The author also does not seem to miss any attempt to shoehorn in genitalia references, and we even get a clunky sex scene or two between the mom and dad.
The ending also.........doesn't exist. Seriously, we get no conclusion. It felt like the author just quit writing in mid-scene. Was it war? Nuclear fallout? Disease? Aliens? No idea. Hints dropped pointing to any number of solutions, but nothing conclusive. What happened to the two families? Did they live (happily?) ever after? Did they die horrible deaths as their teeth fell out of their heads (wtf was up with that anyway)? Did they adapt to life without gasp cellular phones?? No clue.
This was almost a one star book for me. I gave it a second star for flamingos in the pool in Long Island and the ridiculous image that conjured. You have been warned.
