The Society of S » (Bargain)

Susan Hubbard is the author of The Society of S and The Year of Disappearances, as well as two short story collections, Walking on Ice and Blue Money, for which she received the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize. She teaches at the University of Central Florida and lives with her husband in Orlando and Cape Canaveral.

What if everything you knew about your family was a lie: What if, when the lies began to crack, beneath them lay a truth so dark and deep, yet so compelling, that it pulled you inside? The Society of S, a taut, character-driven literary mystery, is the future of vampirism, told in a voice that will haunt you—-and make you think.

Publishers Weekly

Identity issues involving a child of mixed heritage get a supernatural spin in this affecting coming-of-age tale. Ariella Montero's mother vanished the day she was born, leaving her to the care of her overprotective scientist father, who homeschools her and limits her contact with the outside world. Only when she reaches adolescence does Ari discover that her special diet and insular home life set her apart from her peers. Her father's confession that he was vampirized shortly before marriage, and that Ari can choose whether to be undead like him or mortal like mom, set her off on a road trip that eventually brings her to her mother and into an understanding of tough truths about her family. Hubbard (Walking on Ice) delineates Ari's world of innocent and uncertain adolescence with uncommon poignance and forgoes sensationalism for sensitivity in her depiction of vampirism as one of many emotionally charged challenges Ari faces as a child of estranged parents. She doesn't do much original with the vampire theme, but the novel's open ending suggests inevitable sequels where this may develop further. Author tour. (May)