It's 2044 and life is bleak for many Americans, but not for Mason Daunt. Safe in his Los Angeles mansion, Mason can remain blissfully unaware of the relentless wildfires engulfing California, the proliferation of violent right-wing militias, and the rampant authoritarianism destroying American society. He's so rich, in fact, that he and his partner Yunho Kim are throwing a 100-person, $100,000 baby shower to celebrate their newborn-on-the-way. When a potentially apocalyptic event hits Los Angeles on the day of their celebration, though, the wealthy gay couple refuses to cancel their party. Surely it's not the end of the world? But as Mason runs a few last-minute errands, a staggering twist thrusts him into the mounting chaos, and threatens the lives of everyone he holds dear.
Parks-Ramage takes the idea of a wealthy, sometimes frivolous main character getting ready for a party and dials it up to 11. But then, in an ambitious move that brings a delightful element of camp to the novel, he abandons that relatively safe and simple premise in favor of an exercise in maximalism. Which is to say that his plot goes off the rails—and it works ... Parks-Ramage delights in the gory details, the intestines and missing flesh and dangling jawbones ... If you’ve seen Sinners, and enjoyed the campiness of its vampires, you’ll have fun with the not-technically-but-functionally zombies Parks-Ramage deploys in this section of the book ... Sometimes you have to laugh so you won’t cry — and as is usually the case with camp, there is something true and painful running beneath the humor. It’s a good reminder that, no matter how awful or hopeless things get, we can still imagine dragons.
Too many storylines unnecessarily muddy this commentary on near-future America ... Parks-Ramage bites off more than he can chew while failing to imbue his satire with clarity. The book spans more than 100 years and takes aim at a future many fear is on its way without providing his characters, who fight for a better world, with enough dimensionality to bring it to life.
Bracing if lurid .... The author peppers the nightmarish narrative with plenty of inspired ideas, such as an apocalypse-themed vacation retreat modeled after Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, and he shines in his depiction of the makeshift family’s love for each other, which is expressed in the increasingly extreme lengths they go to in protecting one another. Unfortunately, the narrative often loses its way in scenes of gratuitous violence and pornographic sex. It’s a mixed bag.
