What to Read Next: Embrace the Darkness
What to Read Next: Embrace the Darkness
Issue #311, featuring David Koepp and Nita Prose
Happy Friday, readers!
When the cold weather comes — which is happening in brutal fashion this weekend — you’ll often find me digging into literature’s darker themes. Plenty of murder, mayhem, and malice has been on my reading plate for the last few months.
Neither of the books featured today is five stars, but sometimes, on chilly winter nights, you just need a little bit of literary ice cream rather than something pretentious.
Embrace some dark fluff this month and enjoy these two titles.
Aurora by David Koepp
Published: 2022 | Pages: 289 | Genre: Fiction (Sci-Fi)
Long-time screenwriter David Koepp published his first novel, Cold Storage, in 2019. Though it didn’t garner much attention in critics’ circles, I really enjoyed it and saw flashes of Michael Crichton for the first time since the legendary techno-thriller author passed away in 2008.
So I was pretty excited to read Koepp’s second novel, which follows in the same thriller vein, but with more of an emphasis on characters this time around.
With a solar electromagnetic pulse from a coronal mass ejection, Koepp sets an apocalyptic stage in which most of the globe is engulfed in a long-term blackout. Aubrey Wheeler hunkers down in the Chicago ‘burbs with her step-son, while her ultra-wealthy and estranged brother, Thom, attempts to ride it out in his middle-of-nowhere Utah underground survival bunker. Circumstances arise that ensure those two narrative threads come together for a satisfying ending. You don’t need to know more about the plot than that.
What I really enjoyed about this story was the focus on the human elements. There’s not much action related to the blackout itself; that’s simply the framing for exploring what happens when our lives drastically change on a dime. What stands out as important? What kind of creativity can we harness to move forward and even enjoy the new circumstances? What wins out when the shit hits the fan: individualist survivalism or community?
Aurora has its flaws, but it’s dang entertaining when you need a page-turning read. I’m definitely looking forward to whatever Koepp comes up with next.
The Maid by Nita Prose
Published: 2022 | Pages: 285 | Genre: Fiction (Mystery)
Nita Prose’s much-hyped and highly acclaimed debut mystery novel was published almost exactly two years ago and stayed on our library’s “Featured” shelf long enough for me to finally give it a go. (Books that have two-year staying power stand out.)
Main character Molly is a hotel maid. She stumbles upon a dead body during the course of her work, which puts her square in the middle of an uncomfortable investigation. Between her odd relationships with coworkers and her budding friendship with the deceased’s wife, Molly gets into a real pickle and ends up doing a bit of investigating herself (with some help along the way).
Can all the puzzle pieces be put together in time for Molly to avoid getting into even more trouble? And, as is central to any mystery . . . who did it?! This is one of those whodunits that has you on pins and needles until the final page, which is always fun.
There are some notable critiques of the story (mainly on Goodreads) that seem to be centered on Molly’s obvious neurodivergence — the problem, seemingly, being that Prose didn’t bring it up in the text. I had no problems whatsoever with Molly’s characterization, I just think it’s been done a little better by the likes of Mark Haddon, Gail Honeyman, and others.
Though the mystery itself was well done and intriguing enough to keep the pages turning, the characters were a bit flat in my opinion. I ultimately gave The Maid 3.5 stars — it was certainly good for a weekend escape, but I don’t think I’ll be continuing the series.
Thanks so much for your time and attention — I deeply appreciate it.
-Jeremy