Books by Peter Heller
“The narration is extraordinarily well done. Many post-apocalyptic books have a spareness and sparseness that can sometimes feel affected. This feels incredibly naturalistic, and yet manages to be very lyrical. One review I read talked about it having a haiku-like quality. It has these clipped sentences, in a way that feels hyper-realistic to how minds think. It’s effortlessly beautiful while being violent and harrowing.” Read more...
The Best Near-Future Dystopias
Rosa Rankin-Gee, Novelist
In Peter Heller’s The Dog Stars—a novel set in the aftermath of a super-flu that has killed more than 99% of the world’s population—we meet Hig, a man who lives with his dog and an angry, armed neighbour at an abandoned airport. The Dog Stars was first published in 2012, when it became a bestseller in the US, but this brutal but ultimately hopeful narrative found a second-wave audience during the Covid-19 lockdowns. The novelist Rosa Rankin-Gee recommended it to us as one of the best near-future dystopian novels, noting: “The narration is extraordinarily well done. Many post-apocalyptic books have a spareness and sparseness that can sometimes feel affected. This feels incredibly naturalistic, and yet manages to be very lyrical… It’s effortlessly beautiful while being violent and harrowing.”
From our article Books like Station Eleven
The River: A Novel
by Peter Heller
***Shortlisted for the 2020 Edgar Allan Poe Awards***
It’s true that The River: A Novel by Peter Heller has been nominated for an Edgar, but somewhat like Fake Like Me, which also made the shortlist in 2020, it probably should not be classified primarily as a mystery or thriller. What it’s mainly about is two young men going canoeing in Canada and their relationship. That combination of the great outdoors, two men, as well as the writing, makes it slightly reminiscent of Brokeback Mountain (without the sex).
The Whale Warriors
by Peter Heller
An exciting story about a sea voyage in order to raise awareness about the whaling that is going on, mainly by Japan
Interviews where books by Peter Heller were recommended
The best books on The Sea, recommended by Denise Russell
The Australian environmental philosopher discusses man’s interaction with the oceans – from whaling voyages and dynamite fishing to sea gypsies and the flourishing business of piracy
The Best Near-Future Dystopias, recommended by Rosa Rankin-Gee
Books featuring dystopian or post-apocalyptic themes offer us an opportunity to study human nature outside of the normal structure of society, says Rosa Rankin-Gee, author of the acclaimed novel Dreamland. Here, she recommends five other books featuring a near-future dystopia, all of which explore a societal or cultural unraveling through beautiful prose.
