Crater Girl
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Pub Date Jun 26 2026 | Archive Date Jul 31 2026
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Description
"Crater Girl reads like the season of True Detective you didn't know you needed. This tense, genre-bending novel is a must-read!" -Jeffrey Thomas, author of Punktown
Greta Tyler has issues. She's broke, divorced, trans, recently defrocked from her Episcopal priesthood, and her underpaid assistant hates her. But hey, things could always be worse, right?
As a social worker in a small northern Alabama city, Greta's just trying to do a little good in the world, and also come to terms with a complicated new life, a demanding new career, and the crushing finality that her marriage to her childhood sweetheart is over for good. But when her friend Suhey fails to show for a party, Greta suspects the worst: Suhey's either been deported or kidnapped. Thus begins an increasingly surreal odyssey through the inscrutable byways and backroads of contemporary rural America.
Tormented by self-doubt, and with a tendency to harm whatever she touches, Greta careens through a sinister underworld she never knew existed-billionaires and busboys, asteroids and assassins, human traffickers and misfit geniuses...and also an infernal plan to radically change the world.
But first, how to come up with the rent?
Crater Girl is Polly Schattel's genre-fluid tale of gender politics, self-loathing, clandestine organizations, interstellar geology, thuggee death cults, and the search for personal redemption in the rusted over-sprawl of the meta-modern South.
"Crater Girl detonates in ways that are strange, visceral, and impossible to shake." -Andrew K. Clark, author of Where Dark Things Rise
Available Editions
| EDITION | Ebook |
| ISBN | 9781685101848 |
| PRICE | $16.95 (USD) |
| PAGES | 240 |
Available on NetGalley
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Featured Reviews
Yilianet P, Reviewer
With a gripping plot and well-rounded characters, Polly Schattel's Crater Girl is a memorable and captivating book. The emotional passages feel real without being overdone, and the prose captivates you. Although there are a few instances where the speed slows down, it doesn't detract from the overall experience. I would gladly suggest it to anybody seeking a meaningful and amusing tale because it's a thoughtful, enjoyable novel that had my attention from start to finish.
This is actually a really interesting book - it just wasn't written in a style that I enjoyed. I DNFd it but I think it has an audience out there.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book!
A very enjoyable mystery with an amateur detective plot line. I would describe it as more of a thriller than a horror.
I found Greta to be a captivating protagonist. She has a bleak, yet grounded perspective on the world around her, partially due to her own life experience. Although she makes mistakes she is ultimately a likeable character.
The introduction of the more sci-fi elements was right up my alley. I, like Greta, have also been captivated by the “dead eye”. There are so many ways you could interpret it, I believe each reader would come away with a different meaning.
My only real issue is I feel the ending feels somewhat unsatisfactory. The build up was so intriguing, intense and raised the stakes- and yet it feels it concluded to quickly and too easily by comparison.
4.5/5
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