The lure of escape beckons, seduces and often overpowers us. Joy, the 19-year-old protagonist of Laura Van Den Berg’s new novel, practically embodies the idea, whether she’s fleeing foster homes or disconnecting from life via cough-medicine highs. When Find Me opens, Joy has seized the opportunity to escape anew, this time from a United States beleaguered by a sickness that erases people’s memories before turning them silver and swiftly taking their lives. Van Den Berg’s set-up, coming on the heels of fears over Ebola outbreaks, is topical and intriguing. Already exposed but uninfected, Joy agrees to be sequestered with other survivors in an isolated Kansas hospital for 10 months, which allows Van Den Berg to place Joy in an inescapable situation. The hospital is…![]()
