The Salt Line

July 24, 2017
Set in the near future, this second novel from Jones (The Next Time You See Me) introduces readers to a U.S. separated into territories behind giant vibrating walls (called “the salt line”) designed to keep out tiny ticks that carry the fatal Shreve’s disease. While life behind the salt line feels very similar to our social media–driven contemporary world, extreme tourism expeditions into the wild offer the rich and famous an opportunity to remember a natural setting free from physical borders. The narrative focuses on one such expedition, introducing a full cast of complex characters with hidden motivations—a rock star and his girlfriend, a tech mogul, and an unassuming housewife. As the group leaves behind the comfort of life behind the salt line and acclimates to the dangers normally kept at bay, allegiances are tested and new friendships are forged. Fans of Jones will appreciate her return to an ensemble-driven narrative, and new fans will find social commentary and intense thrills rolled into one seamless story. Outwardly an adventure story, this suspenseful novel uses a thrilling premise to examine the fallout of abandoning universal freedoms in order to ensure collective safety.

Starred review from July 1, 2017
Adventure travel in the dystopian future involves braving killer ticks and drug-farming rebels."By the time you feel the itching, the female miner tick has created a tiny cavity under your skin and settled into place....Over the next several hours, the area around the bite will erupt in hundreds of pustules....If you don't scratch the pustules open yourself to try to soothe the itch, the miner ticks will eventually tear their way out." This is Andy, a guide for Outer Limits Excursions, lecturing the trainees in his tour group, "a bunch of people with more money than sense." Since the advent of these horrific ticks, the U.S. has receded into walled zones, isolated by both chemical and physical barriers. Outside the walls are many things these tourists have never seen before--"sunrise from a rock precipice. A hawk circling over your head." There are also settlements of rebels who would rather face the tick problem than submit to the limitations of life in-zone. Among the travelers are a well-known country music star and his bartender girlfriend; the boy genius who invented Pocketz, an important financial app of the new society; a Japanese electronics tycoon and his sister; and Marta Perrone, the wife of a wealthy businessman who is also both a crime lord and a rising political power. Marta has been sent to spy on the boy genius for nefarious purposes, but soon she will lose all interest in doing her husband's bidding. Jones' (The Next Time You See Me, 2013, etc.) darkly clever worldbuilding creates a nightmare that seems far from unthinkable, from the bug-borne health crisis and climate issues to anti-abortion legislation (they call it feticide) and severe socio-economic division. It's The Hunger Games meets The Godfather meets Robin Cook, with female characters playing all the key roles. Hell, yeah.

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August 1, 2017
Jones' (The Next Time You See Me, 2013) latest is a dystopian tale set in the near future when the world is overrun by horrific miner ticks that kill all whom they bite. The Salt Line refers to a chemical border that demarcates zones protected from the ticks. Life in these zones is much like that in Gary Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story (2010), a manufactured world where all interactions are controlled through ubiquitous social-media apps. The story is told from the perspectives of Edie, Marta, and Wes, who are part of a group on a very expensive excursion to the dangerous world outside of the zones. After they are all mysteriously kidnapped, the narrative twists and turns as the reasons for their capture unfold. This mystery-like structure keeps the reader guessing as Jones switches seamlessly from evocative pastoral descriptions of North Carolina and Tennessee to action-packed scenes of violence. Along the way, she explores themes of environmental degradation, technological dependence, and corporate greed. At once dark, disturbing, and highly enjoyable, this is a timely novel bursting with ideas.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

September 1, 2017

In the near future, most people live in protected walled enclaves as the outside world has become far too dangerous owing to the rising ecological disaster of deadly ticks that use humans as hosts for their eggs. Going into the wilderness, though, has become a new form of tourism for the wealthy, who spend vast amounts of money to experience life in an unprotected environment. When Edie's pop-star boyfriend decides that two weeks in the great outdoors would be a marvelous holiday, they book a tour, learn how to burn ticks before they can burrow under their skin, and pack their bags. Their adventure quickly becomes a nightmare when their tour group is taken hostage by survivors who live beyond the Salt Line (a ring of scorched earth the ticks can't cross). While the author's (The Next Time You See Me) premise is excellent, her execution is somewhat uneven. Aside from Edie, many of the characters are flat and interchangeable, and it's a challenge for the reader to maintain a sense of empathy as new characters are introduced and then killed off. VERDICT Dystopian literature is very popular, and the notion of killer ticks is ecologically interesting and adds a unique twist on end-of-the-world scenarios. Despite its flaws, Jones's new novel will find plenty of readers. [See Prepub Alert, 3/27/17.]--Jane Henriksen Baird, Anchorage P.L., AK

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2017

Rona Jaffe Award winner Jones gives her literary work a dystopic twist with a futuristic story set in an America sequestered behind a salt line--scorched earth that protects citizens from a ferocious troop of disease-carrying ticks. Looking for high-risk kicks, several characters journey beyond the line.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.