by Rich Cohen
The protagonist moves through a world where familiar surfaces hide threatening undercurrents. Cohen places his central character in situations where the comfortable assumptions of daily life begin to crack and reveal something more sinister underneath. The story unfolds as ordinary people confront forces that challenge their understanding of safety and normalcy. What begins as recognizable American experience transforms into something far more unsettling. The protagonist must navigate this shifting landscape where the rules no longer apply and trusted institutions prove unreliable. Cohen builds tension through the gradual erosion of certainty, showing how quickly the predictable can become dangerous. The emotional weight comes from watching characters lose their moorings in a world that no longer makes sense to them.
Genres: fiction, american-fiction, suspense, contemporary, psychological-thriller, 21st-century
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: erosion-of-normalcy, loss-of-safety, unreliable-narrator
Period: 21st-Century
Hardcover · S. Fischer