The Revivalists

Hood sets his stark and hopeful debut in the aftermath of a pandemic that has wiped out two-thirds of the planet’s population. Bill, a white psychologist, and Penelope, his Black financier wife, are living a placid life in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., when the shark flu, a deadly virus that emerged from Iceland’s melting permafrost, upends civilization and cuts them off from their daughter, Hannah, a college student in California. After Hannah contacts them by shortwave radio (the only form of long-distance communication left) to tell them she’s joined the Revival, a quasi-religious cult that demands renunciation of one’s family, Bill and Penelope trek across America’s decimated landscape to rescue her. Hood’s narrative follows the familiar pattern of many postapocalyptic narratives, with Bill and Penelope crossing the paths of a broad cross-section of fellow survivors in encounters both benign and dangerous. Though their near escapes often feel convenient, Hood offers wry commentary on the new social order (the government’s approving euphemism for looting, “Manage Existing Resources,” is still seen as looting when done by Black people), as well as enriching insights on the fault lines in Bill and Penelope’s marriage. As disaster fare, it’s run of the mill, but it works better as an affecting family drama. Agent: Henry Dunow. Dunow, Carlson & Lerner Literary. (Oct.)