This book was such a solid representation of how genres/sub-genres can blend together to become a unique story!

A Better World is a mash-up between mystery, climate fiction, and dystopia. Langan delivers a story that is both haunting and plausible with this mix.

Our story is told through the eyes of Linda, the matriarch of a family who finds themselves in a version of New York where they are barely hanging onto survival. When her husband loses his job, an offer to join a company town, Plymouth Valley, lands in their laps. This is an offer of a lifetime. Or is it?

What the family finds in Plymouth Valley is fascinating, weird, and downright unsettling at times. There are a lot of rules and rituals that the reader learns about alongside the family. There are also a lot of secrets being held in this town that readers get to watch come to light as Linda investigates. How far are the Farmer-Bowens’ willing to go to be accepted? How much are they willing to overlook for a chance at a “better life”?

This book is one of those that examines how what looks perfect on the outside can be anything but, as well as how far a mother is willing to go to protect her children.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria for the eARC.

I love a good dystopian novel, I have since teenage years! This one was such an eerie dystopian because it had so many legitimate things happening that could be occurring in our future. The ending I didn't see coming! Woof.

How do I describe this? It starts out like a normal family struggling in a dystopian world. It is really relatable. Our mom protagonist is a pediatrician and her husband is a data scientist. They are brilliant. All around them people are struggling so much they simply "disappear" into homelessness.
Russell is offered an opportunity to move to a company town where they can live in absolute luxury forever if they can prove they will fit in. Unfortunately the town has that small town cult thing going on and the family is struggling. Also there are pictures of the pamphlets about the town throughout the book and I love those.
The ending is so far out there I can't say a thing because I was not expecting it to turn that way. It is all fits together but OMG. You have to read this.

A compelling concept with an eerie delivery. The story itself ran a bit too long for me but I appreciated the details, character development, and layers at play. 3 Stars.

I DNFed this one at 45%.

I couldn’t get into this one! I couldn’t find a plot, it was more a “following of this family.” The use of third person point of view made it very hard to connect to any characters. Why the world was unsafe was very underdeveloped and explained. I really wanted to like this one but the tension never amped up and I just couldn’t anymore.

Thank you so much @atriabooks for my gifted ARC of Sarah Langan’s newest release, A Better World. I loved Good Neighbors and couldn’t wait to read this one! Langan writes dystopian neighborhood thrillers like nothing I’ve ever read. They’re terrifying because on one hand, you think it’s so wild and unbelievable, but then again you could totally see this happening in the world we live in! A Better World is filled with cultish vibes and while primarily a domestic thriller, there are some aspects that veered towards horror. Langan also expertly pulls climate and environmental factors into her thrillers, which is no surprise due to the fact that she has a degree in environmental toxicology! Her knowledge on the subject is clearly abundant! This one is definitely a slower burn, but the ending was truly horrific and I loved it!

This was a very insightful social commentary of our world pretty destroyed in the future and the bell jar bubble towns that are created to protect the lives of the folks who live inside. The Farmer-Bowen family comes to live in one of these towns and this is the story of what happens. I have to say, i loved the story, and thought it could have been really great but it was difficult for me to get through the book. It dragged for me I suppose. It was an interesting read though. I will be buzzing it.

You’ll be safe here. Promise!

The world is falling apart - literally. Extreme poverty, dangerous pollution, food shortages, entire areas expected to be underwater within years. When Linda and Russell are offered the opportunity to live and work in a coveted “company town,” a protected area, they jump at the opportunity. But, Linda soon realizes that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

This was one wild ride! The tension keeps building and there are some genuinely creepy moments! A must-read for anyone who enjoys dystopian thrillers.

Thanks for the opportunity to read in advance!

I picked this up because I love the occasional dystopian fiction, particularly when it verges into thriller territory. Despite other reviewers saying this is horror, I disagree. There are frightening and gory parts, but it’s really more of a thriller. This novel is well written, and the characters are believable. And while you have to suspend disbelief because it is dystopian, it really isn’t all that unbelievable. I will absolutely recommend this to a wide swath of customers.

-Tour-

Welcome to Plymouth Valley where everything is so much better than...anywhere!

It you look around, you can see for yourself how perfect everything is. Well manicured lawns. No graffiti. Please note how fresh and clean the air is here, as compared to outside. I notice that you have a bit of a cough. I guarantee if you decide to join us, that cough will be completely be gone in only a matter of days.

What's that? Why are all these birds walking around? You'll find out more about them later.

We are not a religious group, but we do practice the art of Hollow. You'll learn more about it soon enough, but a few of the elements of practicing are: learning about your neighbors and community, and having a small altar in your home. You'll be required to attend all of our festivals and events throughout the year.

I spoke of the altar in your house. Here we are, allow me show it to you! It's a beautiful home, just look at the modern kitchen and living spaces! Completely furnished with linens, dishware, cookware, etc.. Everything here belongs to you for as long as you remain. As you already know, your first year here will be an adjustment period, not just for you, but for everyone. During that time you will want to try to "fit in" as best as possible. This means taking part in events, helping in the community, participating in Hollow, as well as good job performance. At the end of the year your review will take place and we will decide if we'd like you to stay. It's like winning a lottery ticket!

-End of tour-

Of course Plymouth Valley is not all it's cracked up to be. The Farmer-Bowen family falls for the pitch and really, how could they not? This is a dystopian novel and the state of the world environmentally is not good. It's detrimental to your health to breathe. There are new drugs and new addictions on top of the existing ones. There are no jobs. Compared to all this, the valley sounds like heaven.

I loved the family dynamics in this and I felt like all the characters had multiple layers. The dynamics kept changing as each member had to adjust to the new people they were becoming. It was not possible to live in the valley without being changed. Because everything felt so real, it was easy to surrender myself to the story and let Sarah Langan take over.

I was a huge fan of her last novel, and have been looking forward to A BETTER WORLD from the moment I heard the title. This book too, had me hanging on by my fingernails as the tension built and I admit to losing my grip toward the end with this one. What an denouement!

Highly recommended, especially to fans of dystopian novels and cult tales.

*ARC from publisher*

A Better World is a psychological thriller burn that is impossible to tear yourself away from, even while the mounting dread makes you want to run away screaming.

Between brilliantly crafted characters, perfect pacing, intense atmospheric world building, and a perfect dash of dystopian future, @sarahlangan absolutely hits it out of the park with this one. I was mesmerized by the subtle, menacing horror that drips from every page of this book, and it kept me up well past my bedtime as I kept trying to cram in one more chapter.

If you loved Don’t Worry Darling, or Eyes Wide Shut, this book is going to be a highlight of your spring reading pile.

This just released so don’t wait to get a copy into your reading queue. It’s exactly the right book for lazy summer days where you want incredible entertainment to keep you company.

Many thanks to @atriabooks for the copy. And many thanks to @sarahlangan for your beautifully twisted mind.

Reading A Better World reminds me of the first time I read Wayward Pines by Blake Crouch. There was fascination, with underlying horror. You could sense the badness under the facade of perfection. It’s been a very long time since something had me so enraptured and so thoroughly creeped out. Honestly, yeah, since I first read Wayward Pines ten years ago. I took my time with this book because I wanted to appreciate the delicious unraveling of the world and the family in our focus. The family was so well fleshed out, real and relatable, that I found myself empathizing with their every decision, even if that included their decisions to be complicit. This was so well written, so horrifying and, somehow, realistic. I could absolutely see this happening in our country, across the world. Hell, maybe it already is, with the one percenters already spending millions on under ground bunkers. Maybe Sara Langan can tell the future. You need to add this to your TBR and bump it way up, especially if you like speculative post apocalyptic thrillers.

4.5 ⭐️ This was unexpectedly amazing! You had this sense of impending dread right from the beginning of the book. You knew things were going to get weird and creepy and bad and it delivered! I am not huge into a dystopian setting, but I felt this one was done so well and not overly complicated into what happened and how the world coped. If you like a thriller with cult vibes then definitely check this out.

I really should have learned from my experience with Good Neighbors and skipped this one. Although the theming in the end was pretty interesting, this book is WAY too long and dark.

Set in the near future, it's about a family given the opportunity to live in a walled company town when the rest of the world has deteriorated past the point of being able to live. As with Good Neighbors, I got the point the author was trying to make, but it just took so so long and so so so so many details to get there for me.

That's not to say that it isn't intriguing and my interest was kept throughout, I just don't think this type of book is for me--a dark allegory of what our world could become (is becoming?). I didn't think the ending was hopeful enough, I wanted more overcoming and less muck.

Thank you to Atria and Sarah Langan for my #gifted copy! I voluntarily would like to leave my review.

Woah. So very WEIRD, creepy, kooky, surprising, CULTISH, a little bit gory and good! I absolutely LOVED reading this zany book! It was a thriller and horror wrapped into one!

Set in the near future, the world is dirty, air and water polluted, meat is scarce and bioengineered animals are created for food. Also, in existence are enclosed communities: clean air, bountiful food, great education and beautiful homes for the selected few, all for free as long as you fit in, do your job well and pass your annual reviews for the next 25 years.

Friendly faces that don’t give straight answers. Strange rituals and altars that hold offerings. Secrets and lies waiting to be uncovered. What is this community hiding and what does ‘Beware the Sacrifice’ mean that is painted all over town?

Oooooooh, I liked this one. It felt fresh, and as someone who reads like it's her job (isn't it?), that's impressive. Who doesn't want to escape to somewhere better? And who doesn't like watching that better become something else entirely? I'm in both camps. It had enough meat on the bones to get it to 4.6 for me (rounded).

I absolutely loved Ms Langan’s book Good Neighbors so I actually preordered A Better World months before it came out. This will be, if not #1, definitely in the top 5 books of 2024 for me!

This book is a blend of mystery, sci-fi, environmental, and family fiction blended together with a touch of horror. The whole time you are rooting hard for the Farmer-Bowens you have such a sense of building dread throughout the story and I for one couldn’t wait to see how it ended while at the same time I didn’t want it to end. Highly original and engrossing story that would make a fantastic tv series.

I can’t wait to read what Sarah Langan writes next. Her other books are immediately going on my TBR.

**Thanks to the author and publisher for the e-ARC I received via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. I also preordered and purchased a hardcover as well.**

A Better World is a dystopian book about a family who gets the chance to move to a company town for a company manufacturing a plastic substitute. A place free from pollution and crime, where the survival rate is much greater and the style of living, much preferred. But it comes with a price. Kids are sick, families need a golden ticket to stay, you can’t trust anyone and weird things just happen. This was so interesting to live in this fake world. So creative to see how it all worked and whether I could picture it as our future. It was also stressful, tense and anxiety filled to see how this family would pull through. It was clever and unique and a nice change from my romcom run.

A Better World is partially described as a satire. But, I found it to be an unsettling book and the satire aspect didn’t stand out. In many instances there are situations that hit just a little too close to home. Do I think all the events in this book could ever occur in real life? I don’t think so. But there are ideas and beliefs that eerily reflect the rhetoric and actions some people support and it’s thought-provoking.

In this book it’s sometimes difficult to discern the good guys from the bad actors and, of course, those perceptions shift a little throughout the book. A Better World is a description of a future dominated by privilege, wealth, and the climate crisis. It’s a dystopian thriller that has a good premise. But, in the end, I found almost all the characters to be unappealing and unsympathetic, while the plot seemed to drag a little as the drama played out. The final scenes were a bit bizarre.

Maybe a better way to describe A Better World is that it can be construed as a wakeup call in the extreme. Because the premise was so interesting and because I wanted to know how it would all end (and it was somewhat unsatisfactory). I’ll give this book three stars. NetGalley provided an advance copy.

Well this book was a trip! It’s definitely a thought provoking read. There is a lot going on in this story and a lot of different characters to keep straight. At times the story felt very repetitive. A lot was being said, but nothing new or exciting was really happening. It’s a thriller that uses wealth, privilege, and the climate crisis to propel the plot. It felt very relatable in parts due to current issues going on in society right now.

It’s actually hard for me to fully sum up how I feel about this book. I’ll just say, if you like dystopian books that make you think, then I recommend picking this one up.