Afloat

Known for her ensemble casts and supernatural undercurrents, Healy (Never Let You Go) launches her newest using a bizarre premise about an unlikely and disparate band of characters who find themselves on a floating house in the middle of a natural (or is it supernatural?) event that strands them all. A greedy politician and the woman he’s wrapped around his finger, her perceptive son, the troubled architect with a sad past: all have their own version of what it means to be saved from their predicament. Two deaths bring them all to their knees and wit’s end. There’s reference to, but not description of, sex in this Christian novel, along with deep faith insights and supernatural armor around some characters. The writing is vivid and smart: “Vance felt like a tarnished penny tucked into a tall stack of crisp new Benjamins.” Agent: Meredith Smith and Dan Raines, Creative Trust. (May)