Invisible Things

A Novel

By: Mat Johnson

Narrated by: Nicole Lewis

A sharp allegorical novel about a hidden human civilization, a crucial election, and a mysterious invisible force that must not be named, by one of our most imaginative comic novelists

LONGLISTED FOR THE PEN/FAULKNER AWARD • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post

When sociologist Nalini Jackson joins the SS Delany for the first manned mission to Jupiter, all she wants is a career opportunity: the chance to conduct the first field study of group dynamics on long-haul cryoships. But what she discovers instead is an entire city encased in a bubble on Europa, Jupiter’s largest moon.

Even more unexpected, Nalini and the rest of the crew soon find themselves abducted and joining its captive population, forced to start new lives in a place called New Roanoke.

New Roanoke is a city riven by wealth inequality and governed by a feckless, predatory elite, its economy run on heedless consumption and income inequality. But in other ways it’s different from the cities we already know: it’s covered by an enormous dome, it’s populated by alien abductees, and it happens to be terrorized by an invisible entity so disturbing that no one even dares acknowledge its existence.

Albuquerque chauffer Chase Eubanks is pretty darn sure aliens stole his wife. People mock him for saying that, but he doesn’t care who knows it. So when his philanthropist boss funds a top-secret rescue mission to save New Roanoke’s abductees, Chase jumps at the chance to find her. The plan: Get the astronauts out and provide the population with the tech they need to escape this alien world. The reality: Nothing is ever simple when dealing with the complex, contradictory, and contrarian impulses of everyday earthlings.

This is a madcap, surreal adventure into a Jovian mirror world, one grappling with the same polarized politics, existential crises, and mass denialism that obsess and divide our own. Will New Roanoke survive? Will we?

His best work yet.

A must read for fans of scifi literature. Johnson is a certifiable genius. Mind blown.

Just meh

Based on the reviews I thought I was in for biting social criticism with a sci-fi twist. The "invisible things" of the title are just that, invisible, until the very last page, and then we don't get any description of them - it's like a scene in a movie where you see people staring at something horrible but the camera never turns to show you what they see. Meanwhile, the story, characters, dialogue, and world-building are so very ordinary. The possibilities afforded by setting the story on a moon of Jupiter are completely unexplored; Johnson could have put them in an isolated place on earth and the story wouldn't have been any different. He *barely* explores the racial and caste dimensions of the situation. And not nearly as funny as I had hoped. Overall, pretty disappointing. The narrator's great though! I would listen to another book read by her in a heartbeat.

Refreshingly unique storyline!

Refreshingly unique storyline that refuses easy categorization. I will be on the lookout for Invisible Things part 2 and the movie.

Disappointing Story Line

Sigh…. While the premise of a colony discovered on a moon of Jupiter is interesting, the story line is to the point of being trite. I get that it is an allegory, of sorts, about the origins and nature of the USA and current politics. But it comes off as too obvious. An election called early because the party in control willed it otherwise? Come on! At the end, I thought a great insight was coming in the last few minutes. And then it just dropped. Disappointing and I felt it a waste to read. Too bad as I think the author has many insights.

Super interesting and compelling

Very interesting book with a unique premise. The woman that reads it was excellent. Definitely held my attention.