Adrift - by Lisa Brideau (Paperback)

About the Book

"The truth doesn't always set you free... Ess wakes up alone on a sailboat in the remote Pacific Northwest with no memory of who she is or how she got there. She finds a note, but it's more warning than comfort: Start over. Don't make yourself known. Don't look back. Ess must have answers. She sails over a turbulent ocean to a town hundreds of miles away that, she hopes, might offer insight. The chilling clues she uncovers point to a desperate attempt at erasing her former life. But why? And someone is watching her...someone who knows she must never learn her truth. In Ess's world, the earth is precariously balanced at a climate tipping point, and she is perched at the edge of a choice: which life does she want? The one taken from her-and the dangerous secret that was buried-or the new one she can make for herself? A galvanizing riddle that is just as unmooring as it seems, this sharp character-driven odyssey explores a future challenged by our quickly changing world and the choices we must make to save what matters most"--

Book Synopsis

Evergreen Award Winner

The Strand Critics Awards Best Debut Nominee

Crime Writers of Canada Best First Novel Award Finalist

Off the storm-lashed coast of the Pacific Northwest, Ess regains consciousness with no recollection of who she is or why she's drifting alone at sea. Her only clue is a hastily scrawled warning--cryptic and urgent--and the instinctive knowledge of how to sail, survive, and stay invisible.

The world she sails into is barely holding together. In 2038, climate change has reshaped borders, shattered infrastructure, and driven millions to seek refuge from increasingly uninhabitable zones. Coastal towns bristle with suspicion, resources are scarce, and trust is a luxury no one can afford. Haunted by fragmented memories and hunted by forces she doesn't understand, Ess must decide whether to vanish for good or risk everything to confront the truth.

Adrift is a genre-bending blend of psychological suspense, speculative mystery, and survival fiction. It's a novel about memory, identity, and who we become when the past is out of reach.

"Crackles with urgency and humanity...a book made to meet the moment. A must read." --Katie Lattari, author of Dark Things I Adore

"Fast-paced, riveting...a great read." --Booklist

Review Quotes

"A fascinating and compelling debut with a hard-hitting message that'll leave you thinking long after the final page. Lisa Brideau spins a dark mystery set against the terrifying reality of our climate-affected future. Adrift is an absolute must read." -- Sara Ochs, authors of The Resort

"A terrific thriller...an enjoyable and intriguing read. If this story is any indication of what is to come from [Lisa Brideau], then please sign me up for her next release." -- BookReporter

"One of our highlights of the year." -- Globe & Mail

"[The] real focus in this gripping psychological thriller isn't the heroine's memory; it's her instinct for survival in a world that is collapsing around her...this is, in many ways, a very scary book." -- Globe & Mail

"A prescient, intelligent thriller. In a future world reckoning with having woefully mismanaged the climate crisis, dozens of migrants turn to forgetting their memories, and their whole selves, to escape bitter reality. With writing that is propulsive and deep, Brideau expertly writes to an apex that chills the reader even as it offers glimpses of redemption." -- Saeed Teebi, author of Her First Palestinian

"Fast-paced, riveting...a great read." -- Booklist

"A marvelously inventive page-turner that marks Brideau as a legitimate rising star." -- Owen Laukkanen, author of Deception Cover

"An eloquent, intelligent thriller with a truly scary message about a planet in crisis." -- Eliza Jane Brazier, author of If I Disappear and Good Rich People

"Crackles with urgency and humanity...a book made to meet the moment. A must read." -- Katie Lattari, author of Dark Things I Adore

"It's rare for a book to be a taut page-turning thriller and also be the kind of story that makes you think about the nature of self, but Lisa Brideau has managed to do just that. Full of apocalyptic tension, tempered by warm human connection, this is a book that will stay in my memory for life." -- Marissa Levien, author of The World Gives Way

"The setting offers a stark glimpse of a possible future and the politics of climate displacement. Readers will root for Ess as she battles Mother Nature and herself in a quest for answers... Give this one to suspense readers eager for a different kind of thriller, as well as fans of survival fiction." -- Library Journal