WINNER of the 2018 Campbell Award for Best Novel A WALL STREET JOURNAL
Best Science Fiction Book of 2017 In this science fiction thriller,
brothers are pitted against each other as a pandemic threatens to
destabilize world governments by exerting a subtle mind control over
survivors. Neil Johns has just started his dream job as a code breaker
in the NSA when his brother, Paul, a mycologist, goes missing on a trip
to collect samples in the Amazon jungle. Paul returns with a gap in his
memory and a fungal infection that almost kills him. But once he
recuperates, he has enhanced communication, memory, and pattern
recognition. Meanwhile, something is happening in South America; others,
like Paul, have also fallen ill and recovered with abilities they didn't
have before. But that's not the only pattern--the survivors, from entire
remote Brazilian tribes to American tourists, all seem to be working
toward a common, and deadly, goal. Neil soon uncovers a secret and
unexplained alliance between governments that have traditionally been
enemies. Meanwhile Paul becomes increasingly secretive and erratic. Paul
sees the fungus as the next stage of human evolution, while Neil is
convinced that it is driving its human hosts to destruction. Brother
must oppose brother on an increasingly fraught international stage, with
the stakes: the free will of every human on earth. Can humanity use this
force for good, or are we becoming the pawns of an utterly alien
intelligence?
