Shovel Ready by Adam Sternbergh

I might be reading too many post-apocalyptic, dystopian, noir books. Or,  I could just be aware of the current cultural fascination with end times that’s at an all time high in books, movies, and TV series. From Hunger Games to The Road there are plenty of books that have imagined how the world ends and how the few survive. Adam Sternbergh, author of Shovel Ready adds to this conversation with one kickass book that captured my attention until I turned the last page with a huge, satisfied exhale.

Shovel Ready is set in New York City after a dirty bomb destroys Times Square. It not only destroys America’s greatest city but also finally breaks the American spirit.  After the incident, people still live in New York City but only the outliers: the poor, dejected, and desperate. The rich have moved into their homes and set up shop in a dreamscape where all their wildest fantasies are fulfilled. Those that tap into the dreamscape don’t need to tap out because nurses and delivery trucks supply them with food bags and medical attention.

The main character is a hitman; "a bullet" as Spademan would describe himself. "You just say someone's name and I am the bullet that finds them. No questions asked." He is given a girl’s name, and tracks her down, but discovers that the girl is an expecting mother just trying to escape her former life, so he decides not to kill her.

I couldn't put it down. I read it in two days. The book has so much Biblical imagery: the evil southern TV evangelist who hires Spademan to kill his own daughter, a youth pastor who can turn into an angel of justice, a tattooed Chinaman who is actually a wizard hacking into peoples’ dreams, and a personal bodyguard who can't seem to be killed.

I think I keep reading these post-apocalyptic books because I want to imagine that even if the entire world goes to shit—even if murderers are the only decent people left—the killers might still have a heart for the innocent. The book revolves around Spademan deciding not to kill innocent victims, but instead going after an evil pastor who is enslaving people in a hellish dream when he has promised them heaven.

I like to imagine that there will still be humanity in the end, and that the traits that we value—mercy, grace, justice—will still exist, somehow, even when it seems impossible.