Blackfish City: A Novel

How it reads

Blackfish City: A Novel is science fiction (post-apocalyptic, specifically), and its dominant mood is tense. The suspense is the kind you feel in your shoulders. It moves fast: plot-driven and hard to put down, the kind of book that carries you along even when you're tired.

It's set in the wilderness or at sea, in the future, told in the third person across several viewpoints. Its central concerns are survival. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.

It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending is bittersweet: it resolves, but at a price. It's moderately known: read by plenty of people, but not a household name.