Sphere

How it reads

Sphere is science fiction (science-fiction thriller, 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 recent past, told in the third person, staying close to one character. Its central concerns are survival, nature and secrets. 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 dark — no rescue, no neat bow. At 371 pages it's an ordinary novel's length. It's a mega-bestseller — the book everyone seems to have read.