For fans of Nightbitch and While No One Is Watching, comes âone of the best books this year, or any yearâ (Paul Tremblay, author of The Cabin at the End of the World)âa disturbing dystopian thrillfest about a woman moving to a glittering town of the future, whose investigation of a local tragedy puts a target on her back.
Youâll be safe here.
Thatâs what the tour guide promises Dr. Linda Farmer and her family when they move to Plymouth Valley. Sure, the locals are privileged hot house flowers who observe a weird religion Hollow, but the schools are blue ribbon, the airâs clean, the foodâs fantastic, and Lindaâs out of options. With the outside world in shambles, this move is her familyâs last chance.
Linda, her husband, and their teen twins work hard to fit in, accommodating their square peg personalities into rounded holes. It works at firstâthe family rise up, gaining acceptance from the powerful elite. Then Linda encounters Gal Parker, a hot mess of a woman, whose wife has abandoned her and whose kids are sick. One terrible night, Gal commits an unthinkable act.
All of Plymouth Valley turns on Gal, refusing to speak her name. But Linda canât stop wondering: what would drive a woman to do something so awful? The more she learns, the more frightened she becomes. A clock is ticking, tooâbefore the Plymouth Valley Winter Festival, Lindaâs got to figure out: should she and her family be fighting to stay, or fighting their way out?
A heart-poundingly ruthless dissection of wealth, power, and privilege, A Better World is âmore terrifying with every turn of the pageâ (Booklist, starred review) from a writer who ânever ceases to amazeâ (Gillian Flynn).