Any Sign of Life

The mechanics of coping bloom into much more in this deeply humanizing near-future survival thriller from Carson (The Empire of Dreams). White Columbus, Ohio, basketball player Paige Miller, 17, barely remembers getting sick. But when she wakes up emaciated from a six-day flu, she finds a grim scene: carrion birds, power outages, and her family dead in a world gone silent—except for one radio signal out of Sandusky. Forced onto the road with her adopted dog to find signs of life, she joins a Black premed hopeful and collegiate quarterback as well as a pale-skinned, hypervigilant asexual street artist against an increasingly alien threat: eyeless, glowing creatures with a quicksilver flying craft. As her ragged team follows the radio broadcast across Ohio, they discover a desperate attempt to survive the impending invasion—and a slim chance to fight back. Carson tempers a grim, death-laced future with pragmatism, an athlete’s awareness of bodily limits, and an uplifting belief in people’s capacity for good. Fans of Megan Crewe and Susan Beth Pfeffer will relish this timely update to classic postapocalyptic YA. Ages 13–up. Agent: Holly Root, Waxman Leavell. (Oct.)