Leave the World Behind

About book: Amanda and Clay head to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a holiday: a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they've rented for the week. But with a late-night knock on the door, the spell is broken. Ruth and G. H., an older couple who claim to own the home, have arrived there in a panic. These strangers say that a sudden power outage has swept the city, and - with nowhere else to turn - they have come to the country in search of shelter.

But with the TV and internet down, and no phone service, the facts are unknowable. Should Amanda and Clay trust this couple - and vice versa? What has happened back in New York? Is the holiday home, isolated from civilisation, a truly safe place for their families? And are they safe from one another?

My thoughts: A couple (Amanda and Clay) take their two children away to a remote holiday house. They are happy and looking forward to a break with just the family. One night early on in their holiday there is a knock at the door and a Black couple (George and Ruth) ask to come in. It transpires that the couple at the door are the owners of the house. But Amanda and Clay are not sure, even though they let them in. However, their concerns are about to be subsumed into a wider crisis when George and Ruth tell them that the internet and phones are not working, and TV stations are down. The book follows the trail of the thoughts, fears and actions as this wider crisis unfolds, on the six people that are in the house. From the start to end of this book I found the actions of each individual unbelievable and was confused as to what the larger crisis was even when I got to the end I questioned my thinking surrounding the book. The book does try to cover fear, inequality, racism, and our over reliance on technology but does not go far enough in my opinion in uncovering the impact on individuals if we ever re to find ourselves in this situation. A disappointing read.