Afterparty

Author: Daryl Gregory

Gregory is one of several authors who had more than one book published during the year. One, We Are All Completely Fine, is a very effective horror story, but it is his extraordinary science fiction novel, Afterparty, that really commands attention. Lyda was one of a team that developed a powerful new smart drug, but when all of them are overdosed with the drug at a party it leaves one person dead and the survivors convinced that they are accompanied by a guardian angel. Lyda, with her own angel, Dr Gloria, is a patient in a Toronto mental hospital when she learns that the drug she developed is out on the street. She and Dr Gloria have to get out of the hospital and find out who is producing the drug and, moreover, what really happened at that party. Why it's on the list: Afterparty is at the same time gripping and funny; it is a searing account of a near future in which everyone's minds are shaped by the different drugs they take, ad it is a mystery that will keep you guessing until the very end.