Exclusive Book Review: Afterparty by Daryl Gregory

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A dramatic chase is under way across the North American continent, a pursuit of life and death as a former scientist seeks redemption and salvation as she attempts to save those she has put in danger.

Lyda Rose had been spending her time in the dank darkness of an abyss, a padded reality of psychotic proportions, a funny farm. None of her fellow addicts-turned-crazies knew she was the one who may or may not have put them in their situation by developing and suppressing the dangers of the latest designer narcotic, Numinous.

But now Lyda, with the assistance of a former fed and an imaginary doctor, hunts for the other creators of the futuristic “smart drug” in a struggle to save herself, her soul and those of others.

It has been a long time since I have read a book of such wide scope, one that defies genre type such as Afterparty. Has writer Daryl Gregory (BOOM! Studios’ Planet of the Apes comic book series) given us another zombie romp, a superhero novella or a supernatural thriller for the ages?

Yes, yes and yes.

Gregory’s style is one of subtle urgency, and through this psychedelic romp his characters all speak with individual voices that almost impress their visage on your mind, even without the aid of the comic book artist.

Gregory, 2009 winner of the IAFA William L. Crawford Fantasy Award for his first novel Pandemonium, brings a quiet power to his protagonist and her drive for what is right, for what should have been instead of what is.

In an era of instant drugs from a simple Internet connection, Lyda Rose rises like a phoenix through the muck and mire. But as she discovers, the farther you rise, the farther you may fall.

Afterparty is a work of pure science fiction, of pure entertainment, a reader-involving, exhilarating saga that will put your imagination into high gear and keep it there. When you are done reading, you will not believe what you have been through and will be hungry to read it again.

Daryl Gregory’s Afterparty will be released in April by Tor Books and can be pre-ordered on Amazon.