Leave the World Behind

A Novel

Hardcover, 241 pages

English language

Published Oct. 5, 2020 by Ecco.

ISBN:
9780062667632

View on OpenLibrary

5 stars (1 review)

Amanda and Clay head out to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a vacation: 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 black 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 cell 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 vacation home, isolated from civilization, a truly safe place for their families? And are they safe from one another?

4 editions

stuff of nightmares

5 stars

This book was incredible and I don’t want to write anything very detailed about it because it’s really quite something to watch it unfold. I know some people have knocked it for being “yet another dystopia,” but if that’s the only thing they’re getting out of a tightly wound psychological drama that’s far more about race & class than it is the weird shit going bump in the night… then idmfk. But check this out; I gobbled it right down after having trouble focusing on books this month.

Subjects

  • Fiction
  • Family drama
  • Dystopia
  • Family vacation
  • Thriller