I loved this book! It started out a little bit lighter than most Doomsday stories, but that made room for me to fall in love with the main characters and to get incredibly invested in their lives and individual problems. The author revealed plot twists and information at the perfect pace, where I never felt like I had to read too fast for my brain to catch up, but I could really enjoy the roller coaster ride of the world she'd created. I will absolutely recommend this one to people!

I was intrigued by the premise, but found the execution lacking - there are just too many messy, spiraling-out-of-control plot elements, and the sense of building dread and impending doom was nothing but a downer. There wasn't even much tension as there wasn't any alternative to disaster or hope of rescue to keep me turning pages. Just bleak and awful all around.

When I requested this book, I was thinking it was going to be a nice "suburban" (domestic) Thriller. Boy (like something Shari Lapena might write), I was I ever wrong. This book was one of the most strangest and horrifying books I have ever read. This book should definitely be marketed as science fiction/dystopian horror novel and not a mystery or thriller. While I enjoyed the first half of this book, the second half (and especially the last quarter of the book) was one of the weirdest, most disturbing and vile things I have ever read. I would only recommend this book to people who like horror or very dark science fiction. It reminded me of books such as Lord of the Flies and Animal Farm. With that being said, I am willing to try another by Sarah Langan in the future.


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Set in the future, the world has lost the war on environmental problems. Plastic has polluted the ocean. Air pollution is out of control. The crime rate is up and the police presence is minimal. Company "towns" with the reputation of a clean environment, jobs great educations, wholesome living and no criminal activity have been founded. The Farmer-Bowens are down on their luck when Russ is offered a job in PV which comes with housing. As the family relocates they feel very blessed but things in the town are "not right." As Russ try to turn a blind eye, Linda, his wife and a pediatrician is discovering exactly what is going on. Soon, the whole family finds themselves in danger. The book is a science fiction thriller that I could not put down. I received a digital ARC from NetGalley and Atria. This review is my own words.

Langan has done it again. A powerful and riveting book. I refuse to say more because…. You just need to read it. Five enthusiastic stars, better than Good Neighbors!

This book was wild and I absolutely loved this! We start out in a future world that is eerily believable. Essentially the world has gone to shit and things are not safe for the Farmer-Bowen family. They are able to procure a once in a lifetime opportunity to join a company town. The company, BetterWorld, created this town based off of a revolutionary substance they produced. The people in this town are the workers that keep the company operating in pristine condition. From the outside looking in, it all seems so much safer from their current reality.
Right from the start, the tension was building. What kind of weirdness is this place? What are all of the secrets? I had to know! Not only was this story intriguing, I also was able to see my family in these characters. I loved the talks in this and it helped me to understand my parents a little better.
I also really enjoyed the authors last novel, Good Neighbors, so I look forward to reading more of her stuff!
Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for the chance to read this early. *Prayer hands*

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy. This is my first book by Sarah Langan. A Better World follows a family as they make the journey to a new community. It is from the perspective of Linda, wife of Russel and mother to Hip and Josie. The story follows them as they navigate their new community which seemed like paradise but is not exactly what was advertised. I’m not sure exactly how I feel about A Better World. I didn’t necessarily understand all aspects of the story, but yet there were other factors that kept me intrigued. I did want to find out what would happen, but I don’t consider it a thriller. It felt more like a dystopian novel.

This book started strong, then kinda stalled, and then made a sharp turn and went weird. Too weird for me. Not to say it was a bad story, I do enjoy some good dystopian fiction, but it got weird. Shall I say weird again? I liked watching the Farmer-Bowens all changed as they spend more time in Plymouth Valley. I enjoyed the modern/dystopian take on a company town. I wish there had been more about the adversarial relationship between the PV residents and the day workers. That could have been a story all on its own! End result is that I think the story had a lot to say about how corporations and healthcare and politics can have a negative impact on society. I'm glad I read it as it gave me a lot to think about!

In a near-future world ravaged by climate change where it’s a constant fight for survival, the Farmer-Bowen family, barely scraping by in a tiny Brooklyn apartment, gets a rarified offer to live in Plymouth Valley, a walled-off elite company town in South Dakota.

The scientist dad, Russell, who’s been summarily laid off from his work from the EPA as government funding falls apart goes to work for the company BetterWorld, which has invented a disposable fabric that’s replaced plastic world-wide. The pediatrician mom, Linda, can only work as a volunteer, while their twin 15-year-old twins enroll in the excellent school. They get a gorgeous house beautifully decorated, access to the luxuries of fruit, vegetables and free good, clothing…all their expenses covered. The only caveat: they have to pass an annual review for the first 17 years before earning full time residency in this safe haven.

And like every company town, there’s a huge hidden steep price tag for living there.

Linda already senses danger lurking in their interviewers with flashes of evil or murder coming to her mind, and on a tour of the town seems to see a large creature lurking in the depths of the town’s nuclear fall-out shelter. Then there’s everyone’s repeat and vague warnings about Hollow: a set of neighborhood customs that they’re assured are not a religion, but sure seems to be one: A “Hollow-Following” that increasingly appears to have a sinister underlying. And there’s the ominous ever-present warnings of “Beware the Sacrifice.”

Try as they might to fit in, the Farmer-Bowens struggle to connect to their vacuous, seemingly scared peers. Linda becomes a truth-seeking vigilante despite increasing warnings to stop asking questions, and powerful secrets of the town start to emerge. While survival drove the family to the company town in the first place, does staying there put their continuing survival at risk? At what price is utopia?

An intriguing plunge into the scary powers of groupthink, tinged with horror.

Prepare to stay up late night page-turning with unease to a shocking ending.

Thanks to Atria Books for an advanced reader’s copy.

What’s not to love about Dystopian Ficiton?! And when you can truly relate like what would it be like to be in a “better world”. I’m sure we have all thought about it. And now the Farmer Bowens are getting that chance to start fresh in Plymouth Valley. However what’s truly good about starting over? Who are all these people? Why is everyone drunk most of the time? What’s lurking in the labyrinth? And why are children contracting blood cancer? Let’s just say the grass is not always greener on the other side and Sarah Langan proves that in this amazing book!

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

A Better World scared me because I can totally see this actually happening.

Sarah Langan writes quiet horror with the perfection of a surgeon. The company town is book is chilling in its perfection and it's otherness. Very Stepford Wives meets the TV show Severance.

Read it and weep for our children's future

This book was just weird…and unsettling. Plymouth Valley promises to be the perfect place to raise your kids and keep your family safe from the outside world. However, the Farmer-Bowens quickly learn what a nightmare it is to be trapped inside a walled off community that is even more bizarre than they could have imagined. The message from this story is -be careful what you wish for. Thank you Netgalley for this ARC.

A Better World was mind blowing. I liked the pace and the fact that I couldn't stop thinking about when I had to go to bed. I will be recommending it to my customers.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria books for my gifted copy.

Climate fiction is a very hit-or-miss genre for me. I find it tends to veer towards ecofascism if the writer isn’t very, very careful (i.e., “humanity was the virus all along”, etc.) The best climate fiction, in my opinion, thoughtfully interrogates climate change, humanity’s role in climate change, and the ways that the oncoming climate crisis will impact our interactions with each other and the societies we build. I don’t know if A Better World counts as climate fiction exactly, but Sarah Langan’s newest novel asks some fascinating questions about the future of our species and it doesn’t provide us with easy answers.

Again, I want to reiterate that this book is dystopian fiction. Goodreads, Storygraph, and NetGalley emphasize the thriller and cult elements over the post apocalyptic setting. While it’s true that the residents of Plymouth Valley definitely qualify as at least a little culty, the wasteland outside of the idyllic company town provides a compelling foil to the exclusive, eerie perfection within. The choices each character makes to justify their own participation in this strange community are incredibly gripping. I found myself wondering: would I make the same choices, if it meant healthcare, education, fresh produce, and clean air?

This is a book that examines greed, survival, desperation, and conformity. It’s easy to empathize with the Farmer-Bowens: they’re outsiders to this strange utopian community, and each of them faces uniquely difficult choices. While the novel follows Linda, the glimpses we see of Russell, Josie, and Hip are incredibly gripping. The setting, the characters, the prose — all are excellent, and all keep the tension high throughout the novel.

Another detail that I really enjoyed was the use of mixed media throughout the novel. Pamphlets, advertisements, academic journal entries, newspaper clippings, and the like are used so effectively to create a creepy atmosphere and make the world feel “lived-in” beyond what we see on-page. I’m always a fan of rhetorical novels (any Regarding the Fountain fans out there?) and I’ll never say no to a book that includes creepy children’s media.

If I had one complaint, it would be the ending, which, in contrast to the carefully-plotted earlier chapters, seemed rushed and anticlimactic. Some of the plot threads I hoped would be expanded on were dropped or only hinted at in subtext. The more I think about it, the more I wonder if this was an intentional stylistic choice: in high-control groups, one sudden, unexplained act of violence can “end” the story as we, non-members of the group, know it (i.e. Jonestown, Heaven’s Gate, etc). At the same time, however, it felt out of place with the pacing of the book and left me feeling frustrated in a way I’m not sure the author intended.

Ultimately, this is an excellent book. The worldbuilding is unsettling, creative, and detailed. This is a wild ride from start to finish. If you’re interested in small town creepiness, unsettling neighbors, Stepford Wives vibes, and an ending that hints at “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas,” I’d highly recommend checking this out.


(Review will be posted April 05)

A Better World by Sarah Langan
Pub date: April 9, 2024

When the crumbling world becomes to much for the Farmer-Bowen’s and their two teens, they’re excited to be invited into Plymouth Valley, a company town that has everything that the outside world doesn’t. Things like food, safety, clean air, and good schools. So what if the inhabitants and their practices seem a little off …. It’s paradise after what they’ve been through.

What an absolute creepfest of a story! The Farmer-Bowen’s are pretty much like any couple you’d see today, struggling to keep it all together so when opportunity knocks, they answer. But what happens when you don’t conform or you ask the wrong questions? Ah, so much that keeps the tensions high and the pages turning!

This story has the most insidious nature that creeps up on the reader, at first, I thought, ok, small price to pay to keep your family safe and healthy but then things really take a turn into the bizarre!

The atmosphere is eeriness and uneasiness personified and pervasive almost from the start. I’m not surprised by this, Good Neighbors had me at page one, too, for exactly that reason!

Eerie, impactful, disturbing

My thanks to @AtriaBooks for this gifted DRC!

I wasn't expecting a dystopian thriller but wow, did I enjoy it!

This is my first book by Sarah Langan and I don't think it will be my last.
Her writing is precise and evocative, it really gave me chills.

Linda and her husband and two children are invited to live in Plymouth Valley (PV) because of her husband's job. It is a better place to live with clean air, exceptional food and housing. Unlike where they live now, in the normal world.

They find that PV is weird and its residents are strange. Linda and her family don't seem to fit in and no one really likes them. Is PV all it's cracked up to be? What lies below the surface of this seemingly perfect community?

You will have to read it to find out!
Perfect haunting and chilling book!

Described as a satirical thriller, I thought this would be an interesting read. A Better World might be better described as dystopian futuristic fiction. The lengthy chapters are descriptive and well written. The storyline struggled to keep me captivated. This one wasn’t for me.
Thank You Atria Books for the invitation to read an ARC of A Better World, on NetGalley.

I think it languished in the details and became slow to the point of skimming. The general concept is good but the execution needed more honing, and the combination of drawn out scenes with no benefit for the plot, in addition to creating a large and indistinguishable list of characters, takes the reader out of the book. It is rather obvious from the beginning thst this isn't paradise, but we don't get enough information or action until well over 70% of is completed. And then there's still drawn out scenes that make it hard to get the feeling of the building action. The ending is good but it took a lot to get there.

Overall it's a fine story. If someone wants a creepy cult style book it's definitely going to fit the bill.

Thank you NetGalley for the review copy.

Creepy from the get-go, A Better World is not the genre I usually read but I try to strengthen my bibliographic biceps every once in a while by venturing outside my norm. The problem is, I like what I like. Pistachio ice cream is never going to be my go-to flavor when chocolate mint is there.

The premise is interesting: In the near future, our world is wrecked and people/families are vying for spots to live in what are reputedly utopian towns. The novel is billed as a “satirical thriller” and takes on themes centered on the privilege that wealth offers, the pressure to fit into a community, the fear of the unknown, and the power that education and special skills hold.

It’s well-written and if you like uncomfortable situations fraught with conflict, you’ll love it! Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advance copy.

Sarah Langan is always known for her creepy thrillers, converging the ordinary with unimaginable terror. In A Better World, Langan welcomes the reader to Plymouth Valley or PV, as its residents call it. Set seventy years in the future, PV is a small company town, walled off from a polluted and even more troubled America. Population 4500. Perfect in every way
Plymouth Valley's chief product is Omnium, a miracle synthetic comprised mainly of recycled plastic. Omnium is worldwide. But is it really safe?
Dr. Linda Farmer, her analyst husband Russell and fifteen year old twins Hip and Josie's lives are on the brink. They need a fresh start. PV could be their salvation.
But Plymouth Valley is weird. Very weird. Residents smile through clenched teeth. A mythic bird called a Caladrius is highly revered and kept at each household. Seasonal pagan events culminate in anger and fear...and maybe even death.
"Beware the sacrifice" is the chilling phrase surrounding the annual Winter Festival. Will the new family fit in or is it curtains in the Labyrinth?
Smart, scary and psychologically haunting, A Better World combines Shirley Jackson's The Lottery with Stephen King and Robert McCammon.
For Sarah Langan's unlikely family, be careful what you wish for.