Anarchy

When magic returns, things fall apart in this unsettling sequel to 2012’s Advent. Constable Séverine Maculloch of the Mounties, expecting a quiet assignment to Vancouver Island, instead is caught up in the mystery of Jennifer Knox, a Native woman. When Jennifer disappears from a locked cell, Séverine’s superiors prefer to let her go and worry more about a computer virus called the Plague that is breaking down communications all across Canada. Séverine, however, falls into the growing mysteries, such as a ferry docking with only one blind passenger and no crew. In England, the appearance of a giant winged entity has started to unravel social order. Iseult Stokes sets out alone from London to look for her missing son, sent on holiday to Cornwall, but finds Marina, a half-human child. Concentrating more on fear than wonder, Treadwell loosens up his narrative, leaping among the people whose lives are changing even as they try to understand what has happened and why. Agent: Will Francis, Janklow & Nesbit. (Sept.)