The City Where We Once Lived

February 15, 2018

The sparse and deserted North End of the city was once an urban, bustling landscape. Budget cuts, extreme weather, and a governmental shift in focus to the South End led to the North End's abandonment. People survive in this area because government-mandated electricity and water still run. Some people have set up shop on street corners. The garbage man takes tips. The hyper-local-focused newspaper publishes hundreds of copies that people actually read. Scavengers clearing remaining buildings of raw materials always ask newcomers: "What is your capacity for violence?" A woman from the South End goes missing. A tornado causes massive damage. South End teens rob North End residents. Levees are breaking, threatening city-wide flooding. The metropolitan commission doesn't care about the trouble because taxes aren't being paid. So, North End residents decide to organize. VERDICT Barnes's (Shimmer) violent, haunted, and creepy novel about failing societies will attract readers of dark, postapocalyptic fiction.--Michelle Gilbert Doshi, Lake Forest Lib., IL

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