Clean Air

Ten years ago, at a point called The Turning, human life became incompatible with the earth’s pollen-saturated air, and half the population died. Now, survivors live in airtight pods, and though society is prosperous, there is no more outdoor life. Izabel is grateful for her family’s safety, but she misses how the world used to be–risky, gritty, real. Then the quiet perfection of Izabel’s community is literally punctured when a serial killer begins slashing the airtight pods, killing the families within. At the same time, Izabel’s young daughter, Cami, begins talking in her sleep–and saying things that suggest she knows where the killer will strike next. With the help of a psychiatrist, a law-enforcement officer, and a tarot reader, Izabel positions herself as a key figure in the manhunt–and uncovers a new life path.

Blake has created a wholly engrossing and plausible future in Clean Air, where climate inaction has resulted in nature taking a kind of revenge that no one could ever have predicted. Izabel fixates on the past by watching reruns of old TV shows and reading newspapers from before The Turning; these glimpses of former “reality” are pleasingly surreal. Even readers who don’t gravitate toward dystopian storylines will find much to admire here.