Sarah Langan's A Better World is one of those novels that burrow under your skin a little deeper with each chapter until you feel profoundly unsettled but also incapable of turning away. A very sinister thriller with a dash of science-fiction and full of inscrutabilities, this novel about a mother trying to save her family from a dying world is as entreating and creepy as it is timely and humane.
The Farmer-Bowens are struggling. Russell, the family's father and Linda's husband has lost his job, and they're quickly running out of money and options. Linda, a pediatrician, can't get enough hours to keep them afloat. Their kids, twins Hip and Josie, have somewhat normal lives, but Linda knows they deserve better than the polluted, dying world New York has to offer them. That's why an invitation to visit Plymouth Valley, a walled-off company town with good a good school where food is free, there's no crime, and the air is clean is such a great opportunity. If Russell can get the job, Linda's career will suffer, but the whole family will live in a much better, cleaner place, and they won't have to worry about becoming homeless. When Russell is offered the job, the family jumps at the chance of a better life.
