In this debut novel, Neely-Cohen’s four teenage protagonists are superlatives—coldest, strongest, most clever, and most popular in turn. In a contemporary Washington, D.C., and under the shadow of impending doom, the story unfolds in increments of time “before the end.” Technology is now an extension of self, and so naturally teens use it to bully, hack, and spy. Chloe is a queen bee whose powers of manipulation have left her jaded and haunted by night terrors. Efram is a teenage Gatsby. Molly is a gun-toting apocalypse prepster. Steven travels the globe on shady ventures with his father, a consultant, and where Steven goes, death follows. In a world of genre-mashing garage deejays, and a text message to replace every utterance, adults are as squawking and clueless as the adults in Peanuts. But beneath the labored pop culture references, the novel conveys a simple message: yes, the world is miserable, but technology can’t take all of the blame. These young adults are of the generation “born after the fall of the wall but before the fall of the towers.” In such chaotic times, they understand full well that a trigger can’t pull itself.—Publisher's Weekly
“Striking… a coming-of-age story about finding meaning in our technologically advanced world as the end grows near… a character-driven tale of the apocalypse.”—Sonya Lovy, Foreword Review
"A book that's hard to put down... The online world plays a big part here, and there are elements that will please readers of William Gibson." —Tobias Carroll, Vol. 1 Brooklyn
"The four teen survivors and survivalists at the core of Maxwell Neely-Cohen's debut novel are at once terrifyingly wise and authentically self-absorbed. Steeped in both the pop milieu of this minute and the prophecies of 2,000 years ago, Echo of the Boom the spiritual prequel to The Road that we never thought to ask for." —Gabe Durham, author of Fun Camp
"A brilliant dissection of American youth culture, Echo of the Boom tears apart the stereotypical depictions of young people and instead offers a searing, poignant, and achingly real alternative. Do not mistake it for fantasy, the result is a disturbing yet accurate description of how many young people navigate the world today." —Rosalind Wiseman, author of Queen Bees and Wannabes
"Echo of the Boom is one of the strangest and most exciting novels I've come across in a long time. It reads like Mean Girls seen through a fever dream, treating of the ecstasies and agonies of being young with apocalyptic anxieties flaming on the horizon."—Benjamin Hale, author of The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore
