Odds Against Tomorrow

Starred review from February 4, 2013
Recent current events have conspired to make this chilling novel even timelier than author Rich (The Mayor’s Tongue) could have anticipated. Stochastic wiz Mitchell Zukor works for a unique consulting firm, FutureWorld, predicting disasters that companies can indemnify themselves against. Living in Manhattan, Mitchell spends his days calculating the full range of catastrophic events the city might face—earthquakes, nuclear war, terrorist attacks, pandemics, financial meltdowns, tsunamis. Leading a lonely existence, his only human connection, aside from the waitresses at the Korean restaurants he frequents, is an epistolary one shared with a former college classmate who suffers from a rare heart condition. Then one of Mitchell’s predicted worst-case scenarios comes true: a hurricane of unprecedented force devastates the city. Trapped with Jane, a coarse-tongued officemate, in his apartment, Mitchell turns his attention to survival. But in the storm’s aftermath, in a drowned city of bewildered survivors, Mitchell is perplexed to find himself sought out as the new prophet of the apocalypse. It is almost impossible to read this novel without indelible images of Hurricane Sandy coming to mind. The novel succeeds on its own terms in envisioning such a disaster in terrifyingly visceral terms. And Mitchell’s intensely fraught journey from man of intellect to man of action is one the reader will not soon forget. Agent: Elyse Cheney, Elyse Cheney Literary Associates.

January 15, 2013
A mathematician with a combination of unusual gifts sees the worst coming in this strange rumination on catastrophe prediction. Mitchell Zukor is the protagonist of this open-ended exercise in paranoia by Rich (The Mayor's Tongue, 2008, etc.). The novel opens with a slight remembrance of the brilliant young analyst by a college classmate, both part of a generation permanently scarred by an earthquake that completely razes Seattle. Relatively unfazed but simmering at his core, Zukor does the responsible thing and takes a job as a financial analyst at a NYC firm. But soon after, he meets the mysterious Alec Charnoble of FutureWorld, a company that advises its clients against potential disasters that would inevitably affect their markets--a perfect platform for Zukor's vigilant intellect. Mitchell also initiates a nonromantic, epistolary relationship with Elsa Bruner, a classmate who has as thoroughly rejected the urban spectrum as Zukor has immersed himself in it, fleeing to a remote retreat in Maine. "It's curiosity that's my problem," Zukor writes to her. "I wish I didn't want to know the first thing about plate tectonics or nuclear war, but I do. So I learn more. And the more I learn, the more I find there is to fear." His worst fears come to life when he successfully predicts that a massive hurricane will wipe out New York City, sending Zukor and his protege into the chaos. Zukor's impossibly accurate prediction makes him a cult figure of sorts, the visionary held hostage by his own fear. In an already uneasy age, Rich zeroes in on our collective anxiety with a story of wild-eyed ingenuity that is both meditative and propulsive, often simultaneously. With its fits of paranoia and eerily prescient scenario, this book is not comfortable reading, but it's also nearly impossible to put down. An oddly affectionate portrait of disaster relief that deftly mocks the indemnity mindset of a culture under siege.

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April 1, 2013
Superstorm Sandy changed many landmarks on the East Coast and became a new benchmark for destruction. It also added to readers' ability to suspend disbelief while reading this book. Set in a future rife with ecological disaster (like the destruction of Seattle by an earthquake), it stars mathematical prodigy Mitchell Zukor, son of a Kansas City slumlord. He turns his obsessive fear of disasters into the epitome of financial success in Manhattan until a category three hurricane makes a direct hit on New York City, at which point he is treated as a prophet. Mitchell progresses from the stereotype of the obsessed nerdthink handmade T-shirts of famous mathematicians like Fibonaccito a more thoughtful human being, a transformation that echoes the narrative arc and underlying themes of the novel. This literary thriller is blessed with a propulsive plot, macabre humor, several richly developed characters, and serious ethical and philosophical issues, all lightly clothed in skillful writing. Highly recommended for readers of literary fiction with a political edge.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)