“ A blistering thriller that follows a group of teenagers on an adventure through an apocalyptic America much like our own.” ― Entertainment Weekly   Bestselling author of  Before the Fall  and Emmy Award-winning screenwriter Noah Hawley (FX’s  Fargo ) returns with a chilling and prophetic allegory of America as it is now and as it could be.     It begins with a Song...    In a country divided by pandemic, climate change, and incendiary rhetoric, a new plague infects American teens via social media: a contagious new meme spreading chaos and fear. Desperate parents look for something, anything to stop the madness. At the Float Anxiety Abasement Center, in a suburb of Chicago, Simon Oliver is trying to recover from his sister’s tragic passing. He breaks out to join a woman named Louise and a man called the Prophet on a quest as urgent as it is enigmatic. Who lies at the end of the road? A man known as the Wizard, whose past encounter with Louise sparked her own collapse. Their quest becomes a rescue mission as those most in danger race to save one life – and the country’s future.    Anthem  is rich with unforgettably vivid characters, as fast and bright as pop cinema. Noah Hawley takes readers along for a leap into the idiosyncratic pulse of the American heart, written with the playfulness, biting wit, literary power, and foresight that have made him one of our most essential writers.  An Amazon Best Book of January 2022: Noah Hawley submits his bid for most interesting novel of the new year. In Anthem, the earth is heating up, as is global anxiety. Guns and opioids are everywhere. Political strife and financial inequality have driven our country to the breaking point. Sound familiar? Hawley has turned up the dial on the problems that we all know exist in this world, bravely (and depending on your world view, perhaps divisively) combing through them and explicating while he builds a story that gathers momentum along the way. Anyone who has seen the television series Fargo (which he created and writes) or who has read his previous novels (particularly his last book Before the Fall ) knows that Hawley is a unique talent. He is also a deep thinker. In Anthem , a pandemic of mass suicide among young people is the jumping off point for the story—and in the end, it is young people who will take their future into their own hands. You will recognize much in terms of people and issues here, but you will also be pulled into an adventure that only a few authors could write so well. —Chris Schluep, Amazon Editor “Hawley taps into our existential anxiety—and transforms it into a hefty page turner that’s equal parts horrific, catastrophic and, at times, strangely entertaining.”― New York Times Book Review “Hawley the fiction writer is at his best when pitching his taut setup and its well-drawn cast of characters.”― USA Today “ Anthem is a Great American Novel for these tumultuous times—a provocative work of fiction that sees to the heart of things, cuts through the noise, and asks, 'How can we change, before it’s too late?'"― Esquire “A blistering thriller that follows a group of teenagers on an adventure through an apocalyptic America much like our own.”― Entertainment Weekly “Terrifying, expertly crafted literary thriller.”― Oprah Daily, “The 50 Most Anticipated Books of 2022” “Hawley creates an all-too-plausible dystopia rendered believable through matter-of-fact prose. [He] makes this sing by combining the social commentary of a Margaret Atwood novel with the horrors of a Stephen King book.”― Publisher’s Weekly (Starred Review) “The plot-rich, cinematic story moves swiftly and compellingly, exciting reader interest and empathy. Anthem is truly an epic adventure.”― Booklist (Starred Review) "[ANTHEM is] perhaps the first must-read novel of 2022, the kind of book that you’ll be urging your friends to pick up throughout the year”― Book Reporter “Hawley, more stoic in nature, speaks during pivotal moments, providing commentary that evokes an existential response. A rapid plot, dramatic characterizations, and a horrific but believable setting will excite thriller fans and have them questioning where today's society is headed.”― Audio File “A Vonnegutian story that is as timeless as a Grimm’s fairy tale, it is a leap into the idiosyncratic pulse of the American heart, written with the bravado, literary power, and feverish foresight.”― Shereads “An act of Hawley’s sorcery, and with his sharp dialogue and short, elegant chapters, Hawley propels this novel toward a form of hope.”― The National Book Review “Gripping, suspenseful… Noah Hawley is one of our most masterful multimedia storytellers.”― Wisconsin Public Radio “ An emotionally stark and brilliant work of fiction… A must-read book.”― San Francisco Book Review PRAISE FOR BEFORE THE FALL: "[A] terrific thriller . . . an irresistible mystery . . . a tale that's both an intriguing puzzle and a painful story of human loss."― W