Fiction How High We Go in the Dark

Sequoia Nagamatsu: Bloomsbury, $30

A pandemic is unleashed when a grieving scientist goes to the Arctic to take over his deceased daughter’s research. It includes work on a mummified girl from the permafrost whose body harbours a virus that kills children and reshapes life on Earth in a way that makes our current pandemic seem paltry. The consequences through time – clearly food for thought – include a research pig, Snortorius, who speaks, and an attempt to seed life on other planets. In the most affecting part, a comedian finds works in a grim theme park where parents take their terminally ill children for a final day of fun. It culminates in a ride on Osiris, the ride-ofa-lifetime roller coaster that brings children to the point of elation then painlessly kills them.

PENELOPE DEBELLE