Jan 20

Jan 20 Clean Air

Author: Sarah Blake
Publisher: Algonquin
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

Cover Description

The climate apocalypse has come and gone, and in the end it wasn’t the temperature climbing or the waters rising. It was the trees. The world became overgrown, creating enough pollen to render the air unbreathable.

In the decade since the event known as the Turning, humanity has rebuilt, and Izabel has gotten used to the airtight domes that now contain her life. She raises her young daughter, Cami, and attempts to make peace with her mother’s death. She tries hard to be satisfied with this safe, prosperous new world, but instead she just feels stuck.

And then the peace of her town is shattered. Someone starts slashing through the domes at night, exposing people to the deadly pollen—a serial killer. Almost simultaneously, Cami begins sleep-talking, having whole conversations about the murders that she doesn’t remember after she wakes. Izabel becomes fixated on the killer, on both tracking him down and understanding him. What could compel someone to take so many lives after years dedicated to sheer survival, with humanity finally flourishing again?

Suspenseful and startling, but also written with a wry, observant humor, Clean Air is the second novel from poet Sarah Blake, author of the award-winning literary debut Naamah. It will appeal to readers of The Need, The Leftovers, and Fever Dream as it probes motherhood, grief, control, and choice.

TL;DR Review

Clean Air is a smart, surprising, character-driven thriller set in a world ravaged by climate change. I read 75% of it in one sitting and was so surprised by the twist/reveal.

For you if: You like to be hooked but genre thrillers aren’t your thing, and/or you like climate fiction.

Full Review

First, thank you to Algonquin Books for the advanced copy of this novel! It comes out February 8. I really loved Sarah Blake’s first novel, Naamah, and I’ve been waiting for her next one ever since. Clean Air is very different (totally different genre), but I loved this one too.

Clean Air is a character-driven thriller set about 30 years in the future. The world looks totally different thanks to what was called the Turning, when all the trees started spewing so much pollen that it made the air unbreathable. Now everyone lives in air-filtered bubbles, essentially. But then someone starts slashing the bubbles open at night! And our main character’s young daughter talks about the murders in her sleep — while they’re happening!! As you might expect with a premise like that, this is a really quick read — I finished 75% of it in a single sitting. Sometimes we literary fiction readers really just need a fast-paced story to hook us like that!

I’m not really a big fan of your typical genre thrillers, but I can totally get behind a “literary” thriller like this (character development and interiority 5ever). Especially with the climate angle. Izabel really is a great character, and her inner turmoil with motherhood and grief (about many different things) and her society’s unwillingness to see darkness under the surface was sharp and deeply felt.

My favorite part about it was the part I can’t tell you anything about without spoiling it — the twist/reveal. It went in a direction I just hadn’t expected, although looking back, all the clues were there. I think people will either love it or hate it, but I loved it. So I can’t wait for more people to read this one and talk about it!