Heap

ANew York Times Book ReviewEditors' ChoiceFeatured on recommended reading lists by theNew York TimesNew York PostLibrary JournalThrillist LocusUSA TODAY"e;The first great science fiction novel of 2020. "e;NPRAs intellectually playful as the best of Thomas Pynchon and as sardonically warm as the best of Kurt Vonnegut. . . A masterful and humane gem of a novel.Shaun Hamill, author ofA Cosmology of MonstersBlending the piercing humor of Alexandra Kleeman and the jagged satire of Black Mirror, an audacious, eerily prescient debut novel that chronicles the rise and fall of a massive high-rise housing complex, and the lives it affected before - and after - its demise.Standing nearly five hundred stories tall, Los Verticals once bustled with life and excitement. Now this marvel of modern architecture and nontraditional urban planning has collapsed into a pile of rubble known as the Heap. In exchange for digging gear, a rehabilitated bicycle, and a small living stipend, a vast community of Dig Hands removes debris, trash, and bodies from the buildings mountainous remains, which span twenty acres of unincorporated desert land.Orville Anders burrows into the bowels of the Heap to find his brother Bernard, the beloved radio DJ of Los Verticals, who is alive and miraculously broadcasting somewhere under the massive rubble. For months, Orville has lived in a sea of campers that surrounds the Heap, working tirelessly to free Bernardthe only known survivor of the imploded citywhom he speaks to every evening, calling into his radio show.The brothers conversations are a ratings bonanza, and the stations parent company, Sundial Media, wants to boost its profits by having Orville slyly drop brand names into his nightly talks with Bernard. When Orville refuses, his access to Bernard is suddenly cut off, but strangely, he continues to hear his own voice over the airwaves, casually shilling products as he converses with Bernard.What follows is an imaginative and darkly hilarious story of conspiracy, revenge, and the strange life and death of Los Verticals that both captures the wonderful weirdness of community and the bonds that tie us together.