How to Survive Everything

Haley Cooper Crowe, the narrator of this outstanding if often disturbing thriller set during a near-future pandemic from Scottish author Morrison (Nina X), and her brother, Ben, who have been living with their mother after their parents’ divorce, are kidnapped by their “prepper” father, because he believes a second pandemic is coming. Now in a remote compound, Haley has lived off the grid for so long that she doesn’t know her age, but she does know that she was “fifteen years, seven months, two weeks, and one day old” when she was abducted. Can Haley and Ben somehow escape from the compound and reunite with their mother? Haley’s voice and comic flair never falter as she successfully transforms her father’s rules into her own manual for survival. Morrison succeeds in making readers empathize with Haley even as she admires the “genius” underlying her father’s criminal behavior. This elegantly conceived and written novel provides an unforgettable interrogation of whether coming to terms with one’s own family always involves a degree of insanity. Morrison is a writer to watch. (Nov.)