Leave the World Behind is an exceedingly well-written thriller that I devoured in two sittings. It was eerily reminiscent of a worst case scenario version of our current times—while there was not a virus, the characters were stuck inside their homes as the surrounding world devolved into chaos. The thing I enjoyed most about this novel, however, was not the heart-pouring suspense, but rather the insightful critique of race and class, and how these differences matter—or fail to matter—in life-altering events.

This was an interesting spooky story. Things start out like a family on a vacation and then it turns very upsetting and scary when unknown things start happening that can’t really be explained since there is no internet or television. Relationships between races and parenting are explored.

The beginning of this book was perfectly balanced with its depiction of an ordinary vacation and a sense of uneasiness that became stronger with each page. As the book progressed and things became stranger, I found myself caring less about the characters and just wanted to know what was really going on. We never do find out what happened which left me still feeling uneasy at the end. Not quite the read for this week.

A very unique story line that seems to build as the story unwinds. Each chapter adds to the tension and the fear of the unknown as the characters put off making decisions until it may be too late.

A vacation in a dream location finds this family of four relaxed and happy. They have left the routine and tension of their daily lives behind for this well deserved break in a rented home they could never afford. Then a knock on the door, but no one knows they are here. The door opens.....watch for clues that build tension at every chance....to reveal the owners of the home. There has been a catastrophic event in the city that left them anxious to get out of the aftermath. And so the story starts to build.....

This is a really good read. It has a few areas that seem a little wordy and a little like the author was getting paid by the number of words he was using, but the story itself more than makes up for that. You never know exactly what has happened or what to expect until the end. The back story is excellent but the character development is perfect. These people are real, just trying to survive. Watch for clues....they are scattered throughout and easy to miss, I had to turn back pages several times to find what I had missed.

"People drop dead, but you still needed to eat dinner." Leave the World Behind, although not my usual read, was enjoyable...but not in the sense it's feel good. Alam does a great job of satirizing his characters, making them seem incredibly human. He drops little hints here and there, of what catastrophe has befallen - the world? the US? - hard to know. It creates this eerie sense of doom that is pervasive throughout the novel. He shows us the foibles, the selfishness and the need to be right and loved and in contact with others. Thoroughly chilling, not least b/c at times, his story is so very close to reality. Well done.

This book is everything! I cannot express how well written, insightful, and moving this novel is and how absolutely aligned with all that is going on in the world right now. There are so many layers to this novel...racial stereotypes, socioeconomic strivings and expectations, family dynamics, etc., etc. Lurking behind all of these topics is the threat of an impending apocalyptic event that will change the world forever and shatter all of these manmade concepts to little bits. Alam holds a mirror up to American society and it is just as unflattering as looking at yourself in a department store mirror with the blazing florescent lights and thinking, "do I really look like that??". This is a must read regardless of your genre preference...it's that good. I cannot wait to see what is next for this amazing author!

Thank you to Harper Collins and NetGalley for the Reader's Copy!

Now available.

Unsettling, timely, and psychologically thrilling, Ruman Alam's Leave the World Behind is a book unlike any I've read so far this year. Centering around a typical American family, Amanda and Clay take their teenage children for a vacation on Long Island. However, their blissful relaxation time is abruptly disturbed when there is a sudden announcement of a total cellular blackout and an older couple appears who claim to own the vacation property. Under these unusual circumstances, the two families must figure out how to work together and trust one another in order to survive in a new world.

What I appreciate the most is also what frustrated me the most about this piece - Alam's writing style. With an omnipresent narrator, it is difficult to become truly engaged with the story and with the characters. I always felt at arms length when I wanted to be right there with Amanda and Clay as they navigated these dubious moral and ethical decisions. The themes are reminiscent of last year's thriller Bird Box with Sandra Bullock in that people quickly adapt to unusual, post-apocalyptic worlds.

Overall, an entertaining read!

I absolutely adored this book! The author has a unique style that helped you feel and envision each scene and relate strongly to the characters. While the ending was not what I was expecting, I felt it left me feeling satisfied. This was a type of story that didn't need an ending to be complete. Great work!

I have to admit that I don't think a book has left me so unsure about my thoughts in a long time. I am really torn between hating this book and enjoying the story so my rating falls at 2.5 stars. I read it pretty quickly and I think I understand what the author was trying to portray, but something is just missing for me. I really don't think I'd use the word thriller or mystery which is what I thought this book was going to be. I also have to add, that I just felt certain parts of the book were vulgar and as a reader, it just felt inappropriate and unnecessary. For those reasons I probably wouldn't recommend it. For lack of a better word, I just found the book to be weird. So if the author's intention was to leave readers with a "what the heck did I just read?" feeling, I think it was accomplished.

Amanda and Clay are enjoying all of the frivolity of a vacation in the Long Island countryside with their two children, when a knock at their rented Air BNB changes everything for the worse. The owners of the Air BNB, Ruth and George, return to the doorstep of their home with news of a blackout across New York city and a request to be allowed back into the guesthouse portion of their home to stay and wait things out. Televisions, cell phones and even the radio are not working and there is no way for Amanda and Clay to verify the information the homeowners have presented. A very reluctant Amanda and Clay allow Ruth and George to stay with them as things begin to unravel around them.


This was such a quick, ominous read. The idea that something is happening in the world without the information needed to protect yourself or your loved ones from it is terrifying. I was discussing this book with a friend who HATED it, and midway through our talk I realized that we both had different expectations of what this novel would be going in. She had assumed it would be a "disaster novel" detailing exactly what disaster had occurred and how it effected the world and its population as a whole. You should know up front, that this is not a disaster novel.


Leave the World Behind is a character driven story that is more of a character study of how people respond and react in a disaster. Added levels of intrigue are layered when you consider the way two sets of characters from very different backgrounds and races experience these unexpected turn of events both internally and externally. The writing of Leave the World behind was both beautiful and haunting. A sometimes omniscient narrator gave the reader a little more to go on than the characters of this story had to work with, but not enough to paint a complete picture of what was happening. This made me feel both anxious and totally creeped out. It was horror felt but never fully seen.


If you are wanting a detailed post-apocalyptic novel with a unique virus, or zombie outbreak, this may not be for you. This novel leaves the reader with more questions than answers when the conclusion of the book is reached. I blew through this so quickly and I enjoyed every minute. It was fun to be along for the ride of an engaging read without the expectations of where it would end up. If you go into this read for the fun and creepiness of it, rather than needing all of your questions answered, I think you will enjoy it a heck of a lot more!


⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4 Stars

I was born and raised on Long Island, where this book is set, and I was attracted to this book because I’m always looking for depictions of my homeland that are more realistic than The Great Gatsby. I shouldn’t have been surprised to find such an accurate depiction in a dystopia like this one. Slow-building and leisurely at first, like the vacation the main characters Are building for themselves, the horror sneaks up on you, making it especially chilling and effective. I’m not a big psychological thriller fan, but this one really stuck with me. Thoughtful class, race, and generational critiques round out an interesting cast of characters. And who doesn’t love a guest appearance by flamingos? Highly recommended.

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam is one of those books that leaves you pondering it long after you've finished it. Amanda and Clay have rented a home for a week's vacation with their two teenage children. Shortly after they arrive the owners of the home show up with a wild tale about power outages in the city and possible terror attacks. They demand that they be allowed to stay in their own home during this mysterious time when everyone is cut off from the world. What would you decide? Read and enjoy!

This is a low key vague thriller . A couple is staying at an Air BnB in the Hamptons when they receive a knock on the door from the owners of the house . You don’t know what it is going on but you know something is . For some reason I just really never got caught up in this story .

A stunning piece of literature-art sci-fi, part family drama and highly relevant in today's polarized world. Rumaan Alam's command of the written word is evident from the beginning of the novel. Absolutely impeccable sentence structure and description brings readers into the setting deftly and he keenly develops the characters. Filled with twists and turns-there is so much to this novel including biases, family, global warming and doom.

This book is weird and wasn’t for me.

It has a great premise- family rents a vacation house for a week and suddenly strangers (and the owners of the house) knock at the door exclaiming that something is happening out in the world and can they please stay there for the night? Could be a great thriller, right? Well this book is not a thriller, but instead an atmospheric character study with social commentary.

The good- it is kind of creepy and leaves you unnerved, especially amidst the coronavirus pandemic. Lots of tension in the air between the characters. On another note, it’s short and I read it in a day. If it were any longer, it probably would be a DNF for me.

The bad- the tension never leads to anything. There is no climax and no resolution to the story. The book just ends. The author’s language was far too descriptive as well.

This book reminded me of my experience reading Exit West- another short book that I really just didn’t get.

Thank you to the publisher via Netgalley for a copy of this book to review. I am glad for the opportunity to read something out of my comfort zone!

This book isn't what I expected, but I didn't not enjoy it. As I started reading it, I thought it would be a typical thriller. However, the author turned out to use a thriller plot for a literary novel. Once I got used to the author's writing style, which changes character perspective from paragraph to paragraph, I found that I very much wanted to know more about how the characters interacted with one another. The ending wasn't satisfying to me, but I understand that not all endings will be.

This story begins when a middle class family from Brooklyn, Clay, Amanda, and their two teenaged children are at the beginning of their vacation in a luxurious rental home on Long Island. They plan to enjoy a typical relaxing vacation that is to include among other things swimming, eating, and for the adults, time to unwind without work and to enjoy some alcoholic drinks.

On their second night at the house, there is a surprisingly late knock on the door. When Clay and Amanda answer, they see an older black couple, GH and Rose, who claim to be the owners of the house. GH and Rose have fled the city of New York because there has been a sudden and unexplained blackout. Due to the unusual situation, they arrive in a state of alarm, and GH and Rose hope to find that all is well at their Long Island home. Surprisingly, there is electric service but there is no internet, no television or radio and no cell phone service.

The two families who are at first cautious of one another eventually find themselves bonding because they really don’t know or understand what is happening around them. With each new day, more and more curiosities and uncertainties emerge. Any newly perplexing or fantastic event that occurs brings with it some distress, tension, and horror that serves to progress the uncanny plot.

The book is filled with tension and family drama. Its plot tugs at the emotions of the reader who becomes entrenched in the surreal and claustrophobic nature of the book’s world. It is a book about how people react in a crisis. It brings up questions about what becomes important in a crisis and about who and/or what are the priorities in such unusual situations. And it chronicles the psychological conundrum that comes with a problem that has no realistic solution.

The omniscient narrator changes focus frequently as the landscape of the events changes. The author offers a narrative filled with descriptive details, and that, along with the perfect setting contribute to the surreal tone of the story. And finally, because the book promotes an impending and progressively intense feeling of doom, isolation, and fear, it is up to the reader to suspend reality and normalcy in order to bring the story to its fruition. Leave the World Behind is for those who enjoy an ending that is compellingly uncomfortable and concludes with countless loose ends as well as many unanswered questions.

This review is written from the egalley of the book courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley.

When we think about the end of the world, we tend to think big. We think of the apocalypse on a global scale, and understandably so. However, while the end may be large, the way in which we experience might be anything but.

Rumaan Alam’s “Leave the World Behind” offers a smaller, more intimate look at the end. Through the lens of two families – largely strangers to one another – the reader is offered a glimpse at the way in which our perceptions of the world are based on a shared reality … and what happens when that shared reality is shattered in ways we don’t and can’t possibly know.

It is a thoughtful and propulsive read, a story that draws you in and asks – nay, demands – to be compulsively consumed. This is not a book about the world bearing witness to its own end, but rather about what it means to not know, to not understand, even as our faith in our world’s permanence is irrevocably and rightly shaken apart.

Amanda and Clay are an upwardly-mobile middle-class couple from New York City. She’s in advertising, he’s a professor. They have two kids – a teenage son named Archie and a tween daughter named Rose – and a pretty decent life. They’re making their way to an isolated spot on Long Island, a week-long vacation rental where they can escape the city and spend some time living the high life in this luxurious rental property.

The trip starts out just as they expect – a beautifully appointed house with a pool and a hot tub, high-speed internet and satellite TV, cabinets filled with hot dogs and ice cream and other vacation-type foodstuffs. The kids are even getting along. Life is good.

Until it isn’t.

Everything about this vacation changes with a single late-night knock on the door. G.H. and Ruth – the house’s owners – show up unexpectedly with some disturbing news. It turns out that New York City is utterly without power courtesy of a sudden and unexplained blackout. At the house – which still thankfully has electricity – there is no internet or television service. The cell phone signal-less isolation – so appealing just a day before – now feels ominous and frightening.

None of them knows what is happening … and none of them know how to find out.

With little choice, the two families become one. These people – essentially strangers – are forced to decide whether or not to trust one another as they wait to receive word from the world beyond this isolated bubble. Are they safe here? Are they safe anywhere? As time passes, there are a few scattered indications that something big has happened – something that may have truly massive repercussions – but there’s no way of knowing what is going on … or what the future might hold.

Alam pulls a marvelous bit of literary sleight-of-hand here. We spend the first part of the book engaged in what is almost a dramedy of manners, a deconstruction of various flavors of middle-aged angst that rings familiar to any consumer of literary fiction. We even get a racial dynamic – Amanda and Clay are white, G.H. and Ruth black – that lends a tinge of cultural complexity to the situation.

Then, the author flips the script, dropping these two families into the midst of an unclear crisis. They have no way of knowing what is actually happening (though Alam weaves in just enough third-person omniscient details to give us a sense, albeit a vague and far from complete one, of the circumstances), and so are left to deal with one another as well as they can. All of them can feel that SOMETHING is happening, but without clarification or confirmation, they simply … carry on.

While the delicate narrative gymnastics are impressive enough, there’s even more to the experience of “Leave the World Behind.” Alam has a deft confidence with regard to his characters, rendering them as full and complex individuals with a quickly-sketched ease. All of them spring from the page in a matter of a few sentences, fully-formed, flaws and all. That rapidity opens the door for both narrative acceleration and thematic exploration; we know who these people are immediately, their beliefs and biases laid out for us all to see.

Then, of course, there’s the weaponized ambiguity that Alam wields throughout. Without it, we wouldn’t get the sense of creeping dread and fear and paranoia lurking just beneath the surface of it all. And ultimately, it becomes clear that not only do they not know what’s happening, they will NEVER know – for them, at least, the mystery will never be truly solved.

Too often, literature allows itself to be bound by convention and tropes. Rumaan Alam takes a different approach with “Leave the World Behind,” choosing instead to give us a blending and bending of ideas, moving in one direction before pivoting to another and blurring the lines between them, setting the compass needle to spinning and rewriting the lines on the map to create something quite different from what you’ve experienced before. Loud or quiet, large or small – every ending is its own.

Such beautiful writing and suspense building but this book was... not for me. This is not a criticism of the author; I found his way with words to be inviting and mesmerizing. Every book has an audience, and I was just not the right reader.

I interviewed Rumaan for the cover of the November/December 2020 issue of Poets & Writers. As I wrote in that review, I found it to be a riveting, timely thriller, reminiscent of the movie Get Out, with its smart layering of race and class with the urgency of external threats, usually brought on by ignorance. I was particularly taken with the role of children as our saviors/saving grace in the book and the ways that Rumaan inserts some of his parental anxieties and quirks into the book via his characters.