Amanda and Clay head to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a holiday: 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 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 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 holiday home, isolated from civilisation, a truly safe place for their families? And are they safe from one another?
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(@BloomsburyBooks, 6 October 2020, 256 pages, ebook, copy from the publisher via # NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed)
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I was really looking forward to reading this book as I've heard so many good things about it. Clearly the glowing reviews must have been referring to another book altogether. I love dystopian fiction and fiction that takes the end of the world as a springboard. The blurb for this book sounds amazing. Unfortunately, the whole thing is poorly executed. The language used throughout the book is very dense and overwritten, almost to comic effect. I don't think it was supposed to be funny. I also don't see the need for a reference to genitalia to be shoehorned in every couple of pages. Maybe I missed the point but this is not for me.