cover image Don’t Sleep with the Dead

Don’t Sleep with the Dead

Nghi Vo. Tordotcom, $24.99 (112p) ISBN 978-1-250-36261-2

In Hugo Award winner Vo’s mesmerizing companion to The Chosen and the Beautiful, Great Gatsby narrator Nick Carraway, here imagined as a paper doll brought to life via magic, encounters a ghost from his past. Nearly 20 years after Jay Gatsby’s death, Carraway hears Gatsby’s unmistakable voice during a near-fatal encounter, launching him on a supernatural quest to uncover what became of Gatsby’s essence. As Carraway delves deeper into this mystery, he confronts unsettling truths about his own past and reckons with how the magic that keeps him alive also continues to pick away at him, preying on his desires, memories, and pain. While familiarity with both The Chosen and the Beautiful and The Great Gatsby enriches the reading experience, this haunting tale stands confidently apart from its predecessors and newcomers will have no trouble diving into Vo’s lyrical exploration of identity, longing, and the price of immortality. Meanwhile, the expansion of the paper magic system, previously glimpsed through Jordan Baker’s perspective, adds fascinating depth to this alternate history. It’s an unadulterated joy to return to Vo’s queer, phantasmagoric take on Fitzgerald’s world. Agent: Diana Fox, Fox Literary. (Apr.)