The Down Days

February 3, 2020
Science fiction and spirituality intertwine in Hugo’s fun, apocalyptic mystery debut set in a near-future Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, that has been quarantined to prevent the spread of an epidemic of fatal, uncontrollable laughter. When Tomorrow Pretorious’s little brother disappears, she seeks the services of freelance investigator Faith September. As the pair search, they encounter a motley collection of hustlers and charlatans, including sin eater Frank Mostert and black market hair dealer Sans, and begin to unravel the mystery of the sickness that has decimated the population and precipitated a government ban on public mirth. Hugo adeptly juggles multiple points of view, but the disparate plot elements vying for attention occasionally become muddled; secret societies, conspiracy theories, prophecies, and spirits abound, creating a feeling of unstable syncretism. The arresting prose, an effortless blend of Afrikaans slang and invented jargon, peppered with evocative turns of phrase (“the mountain was undercover, going full vigilante in a smoking gray cape”), elevates this from run-of-the-mill science fiction thriller. Fans of gritty environmental sci-fi will enjoy this dynamic, fast-paced debut. Agent: Stacia Decker, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner.

April 15, 2020
The descriptions in Hugo's expressive debut paint?in this case, spray paint?a highly imaginative picture of a quarantined South African city abandoned by the government. It is the seventh anniversary of the Joke, a deadly laughing virus that swept through what is now called Sick City. It is a place of medical masks and gloves, anger-therapy bars, private comedy clubs, lip porn and laughing gas, and of forlorn people working any job they can find?dead collector, truthologist, ponytail jacker, blood hawker, sin eater, health nun. Public laughter is a crime and due to the highly contagious nature of the disease, everyone lives in fear of the regular medical checks. Over a seven-day period, the fast-paced narrative follows several persons through individualized, short chapters. The disparate characters are unknowingly interconnected, and as the story progresses, the pieces of a strange but possibly life-changing puzzle begin to coalesce. The present-day, alternative-Earth setting and prevalent Afrikaans slang combine to make a vivid and timely portrait of desolate lives looking for hope in a town closed off from the outside world.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)