June 18, 2018
The societal expectations of motherhood are the focus of Adcock’s vivid near-future dystopian, set in a world where water is engineered, drones and tracking implants are ubiquitous, and unassisted pregnancy is rare. Mothers must give up their jobs to raise children and are held to draconian “care standards” that seem designed to punish the poor. The narrator, 24-year-old Carter Quinn, a Marine who is suffering the lingering effects of his exposure to neurochemical agents, is back in New Chicago after serving in the Second Wars. His sister Gard, who is missing, was a Nurse Completionist, someone who helps women throughout child-rearing. Their naturally pregnant sister, Fredericka, is desperate to find her, and her motives go beyond sisterly love: she and Gard may have a risky way to get around some of those rigid government requirements. At the clinic where Gard worked, Carter finds more questions than answers. Adcock, a natural storyteller, writes flawed and believable characters and intersperses Carter’s narrative with details of his time in the Wars and missives from Gard and Fred. His quest for answers about Gard’s disappearance, however, moves at a frustratingly slow pace. Still, Adcock has created a captivating, if grim, future. Readers will want to get to the truth behind Gard’s disappearance, even if it takes a while. Agent: Betsy Lerner, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner.
May 15, 2018
Carter Quinn, a young marine, is back home in New Chicago after his stint fighting a war to protect mechanically engineered water. The world he returns to is still recovering from a series of natural disasters that have left once-large bodies of water dry and all signs of plant and animal life almost entirely dead. Seemingly connected to these ravages is a fertility crisis. Natural conception is rare and artificial insemination incredibly expensive, but Carter's sister Fredericka is one of a few who have managed to become pregnant naturally. Then their sister Gardner goes missing. Carter received troubling messages from Gardner before her disappearance, leaving him committed to finding her despite having nothing but rumors to follow. With Fredericka urging him on, he chases Gardner into a darker underground world and soon realizes his father might be keeping secrets Carter isn't ready to face. Fans of dystopian novels will love Adcock's (The Barter, 2014) disturbing speculation on just how bad things can get when resources are rare and personal lives are heavily policed.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)