KIU Book Club: Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam

Leave the World Behind is a magnetic novel about two families, strangers to each other, who are forced together on a long weekend gone terribly wrong.

Amanda and Clay head out to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a vacation: a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter, and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home theycâ¬â„cve rented for the week. But a late-night knock on the door breaks the spell. Ruth and G. H. are an older black couplecâ¬â€itcâ¬â„cs their house, and theycâ¬â„cve arrived in a panic. They bring the news that a sudden blackout has swept the city. But in this rural areacâ¬â€with the TV and internet now down, and no cell phone servicecâ¬â€itcâ¬â„cs hard to know what to believe.

Should Amanda and Clay trust this couplecâ¬â€and vice versa? What happened back in New York? Is the vacation home, isolated from civilization, a truly safe place for their families? And are they safe from one another? 

Suspenseful and provocative, Rumaan Alamcâ¬â„cs third novel is keenly attuned to the complexities of parenthood, race, and class. Leave the World Behind explores how our closest bonds are reshaped - and unexpected new ones are forgedcâ¬â€in moments of crisis.  

Review from Goodreads.com