A survivor of a world-altering upheaval reveals how the research she developed to rebuild society was hijacked for purposes beyond what she intended in this suspenseful novel by Jeffrey Cranor (The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home, written with Jeffrey Fink) and Janina Matthewson (Of Things Gone Astray), set in the world of the podcast Within the Wires.
You Feel It Just Below the Ribs is presented as an autobiography of Miriam Gregory, a psychologist who played a pivotal role in an alternate 20th century. Following decades of war in her youth, Miriam becomes involved in the building of the New Society, founded on the basis of eschewing all tribalism, including the bonds between parents and children. How this is accomplished is revealed slowly through both Miriam's narrative and footnotes ostensibly added by an underground publisher when the manuscript was discovered. However, as Miriam's story progresses and becomes darker, the footnotes become ever more insistent that her version of events cannot be verified and contradicts established facts. Is the manuscript actually a work of fiction, a fraud, or an exposé of a conspiracy never otherwise revealed?
Just as each season of Within the Wires is a self-contained story presented as found audio, this novel stands independently, although listeners will recognize elements of the society and enjoy learning more about their backgrounds. Fans and newcomers alike will be engrossed by the mix of alternate history, science fiction and slow-burn horror. --Kristen Allen-Vogel, information services librarian at Dayton Metro Library