All Better Now
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5.0 • 4 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
An Instant New York Times Bestseller
From New York Times bestselling author Neal Shusterman comes a young adult thriller about a world where happiness is contagious but the risks of catching it may be just as dangerous as the cure.
A deadly and unprecedented virus is spreading. But those who survive it experience long-term effects no one has ever seen before: utter contentment. Soon after infection, people find the stress, depression, greed, and other negative feelings that used to weigh them down are gone.
More and more people begin to revel in the mass unburdening. But not everyone. People in power—who depend on malcontents and prey on the insecure to sell their products, and convince others they need more, new, faster, better everything—know this new state of being is bad for business. Surely, without anger or jealousy as motivators, productivity will grind to a halt and the world will be thrown into chaos. Campaigns start up to convince people that being eternally happy is dangerous. The race to find a vaccine begins. Meanwhile, a growing movement of Recoverees plans ways to spread the virus as fast as they can, in the name of saving the world.
It’s nearly impossible to determine the truth when everyone with a platform is pushing their agenda. Three teens from very different backgrounds who’ve had their lives upended in very different ways find themselves at the center of a power play that could change humanity forever.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Three teenagers find themselves at the center of a unique pandemic in this satirical adventure from Neil Shusterman. The disease in this tale is unlike anything Earth has faced before, killing 1 in every 25 people infected, but leaving the survivors with an unlikely side effect…total happiness. Amid the chaos, homeless teen Mariel happens to meet Rón Escobedo, the son of one of the world’s richest men. And they cross paths with Morgan Willmon-Wu, a 19-year-old tasked with eradicating the plague from the planet—much to the dismay of many survivors. Shusterman’s biting social commentary takes on a plethora of modern issues, including corporate greed, government ineptitude, and personal liberty, all in unique and thought-provoking ways. We loved Shusterman’s darkly comedic style, which kept us engaged with the three characters as they fight to do what they each believe is right. Timely and unputdownable, All Better Now flips the pandemic thriller delightfully on its head.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This epic biological thriller by Shusterman (Break to You) finds three teens grappling for world-changing power during a post-Covid-19 pandemic of an evolved coronavirus. While Crown Royale, an airborne "disease of mindless euphoria," outpaces Covid's mortality rate, those fortunate enough to recover report rejuvenated senses and "a newfound sense of completion." In San Francisco, unhoused Mariel Mudroch's natural immunity to Crown Royale makes her the perfect sidekick for wealthy Rón Tigre Escobedo, an alpha spreader on a "humanity-saving mission" of intentionally infecting others—until 19-year-old Morgan Willmon-Wu inherits plans to eradicate Crown Royale and learns that Mariel's immunity is the missing link to the purported cure's success. But how does one destroy a joy-spreading virus from which the world claims it doesn't want—or need—to be saved? Shusterman's cerebral third-person narration deftly unspools globe-trotting medical drama from multiple perspectives as Crown Royale's threat to economic and political stability ensnares the intersectionally diverse cast in morally gray dilemmas. The plot twists keep coming all the way to the enigmatic, jaw-dropping conclusion in this exquisitely rendered work. Ages 12–up.
