For fans of "The Age of Miracles" and "The Dog Stars," "Black Moon" is a halluci
natory and stunning debut that Charles Yu calls "Gripping and expertly construct
ed."
Insomnia has claimed everyone Biggs knows. Even his beloved wife, Carolyn
, has succumbed to the telltale red-rimmed eyes, slurred speech and cloudy mind
before disappearing into the quickly collapsing world. Yet Biggs can still sleep
, and dream, so he sets out to find her.
He ventures out into a world ransacke
d by mass confusion and desperation, where he meets others struggling against th
e tide of sleeplessness. Chase and his buddy Jordan are devising a scheme to liv
e off their drug-store lootings; Lila is a high school student wandering the str
eets in an owl mask, no longer safe with her insomniac parents; Felicia abandons
the sanctuary of a sleep research center to try to protect her family and perha
ps reunite with Chase, an ex-boyfriend. All around, sleep has become an infinite
ly precious commodity. Money can't buy it, no drug can touch it, and there are t
hose who would kill to have it. However, Biggs persists in his quest for Carolyn
, finding a resolve and inner strength that he never knew he had.
Kenneth Calh
oun has written a brilliantly realized and utterly riveting depiction of a world
gripped by madness, one that is vivid, strange, and profoundly moving.
"From t
he Hardcover edition."
