A job with a mysterious government agency turns out to be literally out of this universe in The Kaiju Preservation Society, a hilarious science fiction romp from John Scalzi (The Last Emperox).
Jamie Gray is laid off from a corporate job with a food delivery app just before the coronavirus epidemic hits New York City. But a customer offers a lead on a job with an animal rights organization that involves extended periods of fieldwork and no contact with the rest of the world. After six months of making ends meet as a delivery driver, Jamie accepts, flies to Greenland and discovers the actual fieldwork will be on Earth in an alternate universe, one populated with massive Godzilla-like creatures known as kaiju. Jamie expects a job that's mostly grunt work, but supporting the agency also means assisting scientists with tests that involve getting up close and personal with the kaiju. It also involves corralling rich tourists, ones who finagle visits in exchange for funding--and not all of them have animal welfare in mind.
Scalzi rightly calls The Kaiju Preservation Society a "pop song" of a novel, "light and catchy, with three minutes of hooks and choruses for you to sing along with." But don't underestimate the ability of an excellent pop song--especially one with a streak of biting satire--to linger in someone's head. This is a high-energy, banter-filled adventure, which will brighten the day of fans of Scalzi's Lock Innovels as well as monster movie aficionados. --Kristen Allen-Vogel, information services librarian at Dayton Metro Library