#BlogTour ‘Aurora’ by David Koepp

About the book…

“Forget a good night’s sleep. Aurora is epic, but personal and poignant, horrifying and darkly funny, and flat-out suspenseful.”–Linwood Barclay, New York Times bestselling author of Find You First

From the author of Cold Storage comes a riveting, eerily plausible thriller, told with the menace and flair of Under the Dome or Project Hail Mary, in which a worldwide cataclysm plays out in the lives of one complicated Midwestern family.

In Aurora, Illinois, Aubrey Wheeler is just trying to get by after her semi-criminal ex-husband split, leaving behind his unruly teenage son.

Then the lights go out–not just in Aurora but across the globe. A solar storm has knocked out power almost everywhere. Suddenly, all problems are local, very local, and Aubrey must assume the mantle of fierce protector of her suburban neighborhood.

Across the country lives Aubrey’s estranged brother, Thom. A fantastically wealthy, neurotically over-prepared Silicon Valley CEO, he plans to ride out the crisis in a gilded desert bunker he built for maximum comfort and security.

But the complicated history between the siblings is far from over, and what feels like the end of the world is just the beginning of several long-overdue reckonings–which not everyone will survive . . .

Aurora is suspenseful storytelling–both large scale and small–at its finest.

Hugest of thanks to the wonderful people at Harper HQ for sending me a review copy of ‘Aurora’ and dubiously voiced thanks, I guess, for the sleepless nights I had after reading it to the author.

Me(a nurse) to my husband (a properly scientific genius)-‘So….this Carrington Event…’

Him-Yep

Me-Is it real, did it happen?

Him-Yep

Me-Do I add it to the list of ever increasing things I should worry about including but not limited to, monkeypox, COVID, cost of living crisis, fuel shortages?

Him-Yep.

Me-Ok, so is it fair to say we are well overdue one of these Coronal Mass Ejection events?

Him- *lecture about the occurence of these, whilst I nod furiously, reading this in the canteen at work and watching the little cursor flashing again and again….*

Me-We’re fucked aren’t we?

Him-Yep

Basically , this book takes a very real piece of scientific possibility -which given my new found knowledge of the sun, could very well be imminent-and sweeps all your worries about virus’, pandemics, endemic stupidity in the boardrooms of power, guns, societal meltdowns into a corner and sets fire to it. And then blows it up.

The science was very realistic and able to get your head around even if you are more attuned to the biological sciences, or no sciences at all, and don’t have access to a properly scientific person in your life, the fear which is engendered by reading Aurora is very palpable. What makes it so relatable is the scope of the characters, there is often a temptation to over egg the dramatis personae in order to make it impactful, but here, you have a woman and her brother, the one a woman named Aubrey who has just kicked out her deadbeat husband but is left with his sullen, teen son. Her brother Thom could not be more different, he is the CEO of a company which has made him a tech millionaire so the very tech which is now at risk due to a blackout event that could last months or years, has access to a bunker which has everything he needs to survive this CME.

Aubrey is a committed re-user, thrifter, economiser who lives a simpler lifestyle-see the hilarious scenes with the cameras she plants to try and make sure her stepson is going to behave in her house whilst she is away on a trip , I was crying!-and she turns to her self sufficiency skills when the news about the CME hits.

It is a dystopian novel viewed through the prism of siblings who have a history which needs resolving before they can move forward. They represent the opposite ends of society, the socially conscious and the socially exploitative in a way that is very visual and highly relatable. He resists the temptation to overfill the book with the details of what is going on elsewhere, the focus is very much on this family which takes a cataclysmic event to re-unite. I very much enjoyed David Koepp’s writing style, the way he writes dialogue makes it jump off the page, teen Scott has this in spades as teens are often written how adults think they speak, but as the mum of 5 daughters, 3 of whom are teens and still at home, I cheerfully wanted to strangle, cry over and shake him.

It is an immensely visual novel which I think would be great in a movie or mini series, so I would definitely recommend it if you think you have room for more things to worry about in your life (my list is absolutely full, last place secured by ‘accidental’ super raged hamsters which were created in a lab!)

About the author…

David Koepp is a celebrated American screenwriter and director best known for his work on Jurassic Park, Spider-Man, Panic Room, War of the Worlds and Mission: Impossible. His work on screen has grossed over $6 billion worldwide.

His first novel, ‘Cold Storage’, was published in 2019.

Links-https://davidkoepp.com/

Twitter @HQStories @DGKoepp