The Ferryman
Justin Cronin

'Next to impossible to put down . . . exciting, mysterious, and totally satisfying.'
STEPHEN KING

*****

The archipelago of Prospera lies in the middle of a vast ocean.Created by a mythic genius known only as The Designer, Prospera exists in splendid isolation,forgetful of whichever untold horrors inspired its creation.

Citizens of the main island enjoy fulfilling and privileged lives, attended to by the obliging support staff who live on a neighbouring island, The Annex.

There, something is stirring. People are beginning to question their place in the social order - and there is talk of an underground resistance, who call themselves The Arrivalists.

Meanwhile, life for Prosperans is perfection - and when it's not, their bodies are sent to the smallest of the three islands: a mysterious facility named The Nursery, to have their memories wiped and to restart life afresh.

Proctor Bennett is a Ferryman, who shepherds the soon-to-be retired across into the unknown. But Proctor has a secret: he has been dreaming. Something that The Designer's system has made impossible. And in these strange dreams - of the stars and the sea - he feels someone is trying to tell him something...

When he's summoned to take his own father onboard the ferry to be rebooted - he is given a cryptic message:

"The world is not the world..."

These simple words unravel something that Proctor has long suspected: that things are not what they seem. And soon his fate is tangled with a cause much bigger than he realized, and one that could change the fate of humanity itself...

*****

'A mind-bending novel full of big ideas and a rollercoaster's worth of twists and turns - so powerful and thrilling!'
ANDY WEIR, author of The Martian

'All of my sky-high expectations were smashed. The Ferryman,like the very best speculative fiction, is a transcendent meditation on the human condition, delivered through gorgeous prose, characters who steal your heart, and riveting storytelling that is guaranteed to put the rest of your life on hold until you've turned the final page. Fiction doesn't get better than this.'
BLAKE CROUCH, author of Dark Matter