Swan Dive

Emily St John Mandel's Exit Party (2026) was one of the books I was most looking forward to when planning my reading for 2026. Set in the near future, Exit Party is divided into two parts.

The A Side begins in California in 2031. After a coup d'etat, civil war has broken America into independent regions, each with their own militia and varying degrees of lawlessness. In Los Angeles the curfew has been lifted, so Ari Waker and her flatmate Gloria go to a party at Kareem's place. During the party odd things happen - extra people are present, a painting is stolen, and Kareem disappears. Later, when Ari is working in surveillance, she is tasked with tailing a woman, Nico, who looks exactly like Gloria. Could she be one of the extras from the party? 

The B Side is set years later in a different America. Instead of a civil war, in this America there has been an acquiescence to an authoritarian state. The President was succeeded by his son, and the states have become united as one State. Citizens are surveilled by Service, the secret police, who run a Stasi-like system of dobbing in neighbours. Those who run afoul of Service are exiled to the desert as ghosts with their children orphaned. A version of characters from the A side are also present, be living different lives. I won't say more for fear of spoilers, and it is best to enjoy this book knowing little about it. 

Part action thriller, part dystopian fantasy, part allegory, Exit Party is structurally brilliant. Mandel so deftly weaves the interwoven threads across the two sides, I am tempted to go back to the start and read it again to take in her incredible skill as a novelist. In Exit Party Mandel has created fascinating characters who are distinct in each timeline and I grew to admire Ari (Ibari) for her resilience, resourcefulness and street smarts. 

While Exit Party is a standalone novel, Mandel fans will take delight in the cross overs with her other works - for example, Ari Waker and her cousin Anton are in The Singer's Gun (2010), while Lucas Alkaitis, the painter of Swan Dive, is in  The Glass Hotel (2020).  You do not need to read her previous novels to enjoy Exit Party, however. 

My reviews of other novels by Emily St John Mandel are available on this blog:

• Station Eleven (2014) 
• The Glass Hotel (2020)
• Sea of Tranquility (2022)