"Lester deftly ties it all together into a layered, eerie puzzle. Fans of ensemble narratives and thoughtful thrillers with truly jolting twists will relish this trio's journey into a stranger, newer world—and this novel that, as it looks forward, playfully engages with some SF classics of the past.

"—BookLifeUnnatural things are happening on an isolated island off the coast of Alaska. Just when Belle had thought her life couldn’t get any weirder—she finds herself arrested for murder.

Only a few months ago she lived in a peculiar village, cut off from civilization, where she suffered from bizarre hallucinations and nightmares. Then she received a mysterious invitation to work for the world’s most brilliant scientist—the enigmatic Sophia Eccleston.

The pay was outstanding. The accommodations, second to none.

The catch? Belle had to live on isolated island and follow strict, often bizarre, security protocols. Meanwhile a slaughterhouse worker is declared obsolete, replaced by machines, and becomes a bearded recluse.

As he sits in his crumbling manor awaiting the cancer to take him—he too receives an unusual invitation to the strange island where either his salvation or damnation await. Things aren’t going well for Sophia either.

She faces the hostile takeover of her life’s work—her company—all while striving to keep the identity of her eight-year-old daughter a secret. They all meet on an isle where murder-machines and transgenic creatures run amok in a gothic odyssey where technology has been unleashed.

. .