Echo of the Boom

In this debut novel, Neely-Cohen’s four teenage protagonists are superlatives—coldest, strongest, most clever, and most popular in turn. In a contemporary Washington, D.C., and under the shadow of impending doom, the story unfolds in increments of time “before the end.” Technology is now an extension of self, and so naturally teens use it to bully, hack, and spy. Chloe is a queen bee whose powers of manipulation have left her jaded and haunted by night terrors. Efram is a teenage Gatsby. Molly is a gun-toting apocalypse prepster. Steven travels the globe on shady ventures with his father, a consultant, and where Steven goes, death follows. In a world of genre-mashing garage deejays, and a text message to replace every utterance, adults are as squawking and clueless as the adults in Peanuts. But beneath the labored pop culture references, the novel conveys a simple message: yes, the world is miserable, but technology can’t take all of the blame. These young adults are of the generation “born after the fall of the wall but before the fall of the towers.” In such chaotic times, they understand full well that a trigger can’t pull itself. (Apr.)