Crosshairs - by Catherine Hernandez (Paperback)

Dimensions (Overall): 9 Inches (H) x 1 Inches (W) x 6 Inches (D)
Weight: 1 Pounds
Number of Pages: 272
Genre: Fiction + Literature Genres
Sub-Genre: Dystopian
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Atria Books
Author: Catherine Hernandez
Age Range: Adult
Language: English

Book Synopsis

USA TODAY's 5 Books Not to Miss
Vanity Fair's Books To Get You Through the Winter
Marie Claire's 2020 Books to Add To Your Reading List
PopSugar's 20 Books Everyone Will Be Talking About
Cosmopolitan's 20 Books to Read this Winter

"A beautiful, unapologetic, and unwatered-down...dystopian [novel] that holds a sobering mirror up to our own world" (Marie Lu, New York Times bestselling author) from the author of the acclaimed novel Scarborough.

In the wake of the escalating global battle for economic and social justice, award-winning author Catherine Hernandez has crafted a dystopian tale of love, friendship, and resistance set in a terrifyingly familiar near-future. Crosshairs births an indelible landscape of memory and uncertainty as Kay, the gay son of Filipino and Jamaican immigrants, is on the run from a fascist regime operated by a paramilitary group known as the Boots. Those who fall at the bottom of the Boots' social stratification are rendered "Other" and subsequently sent to work camps. They suffer violence that pushes them further into this otherness, although the new regime labels these sweeping acts the "Renovation."

Kay's account of these events is a silent letter to his lover, Evan, from whom he is separated when the Renovation's plans fall rapidly into place. When Kay finds himself on the run again, he lands in the front lines of a civilian-led movement called the Resistance. There, he discovers the answer to his question: "I wonder what could possibly happen in my lifetime that would have me running. What would mean enough to me to fight against it?"

Crosshairs grapples with a matrix of oppressive systems perpetuated by environmental disaster and state-sanctioned violence. Amid the flames of hatred and distrust, marginalized communities rise against the repressive structures that see them as anything but human, and with this, a thrilling message of hope is forged.

Review Quotes

"Every character has a moment to tell their story. Hernandez delivers beautiful and heartbreaking scenes in a story that is hard especially because of how close it feels to our present."-- "Booklist"

"Crosshairs is a blistering page-turner. One can describe it as dystopic fiction, but Catherine Hernandez is presenting us with something much more prescient to consider. The novel acts as a provocation and a challenge for readers to locate themselves. Crosshairs offers a glance into a world that is possible if we continue on a trajectory that is frightfully present. Most importantly, Crosshairs asks us what we will do to resist and build a better future when faced with such momentous and dangerous times."--Carrianne Leung, award-winning author of That Time I Loved You

"Crosshairs is both unnervingly prescient and undeniably profound. A harrowing work that's as much a battle cry as a ballad for the erased, and we should all be listening."--V.E. Schwab, New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

"Crosshairs made me shiver. It troubled my dreams. Still, I could not put down this dystopia. It was utterly compelling. Catherine Hernandez prophesies Canadian genocide against Queer, Black, Brown, and Indigenous folks. At the same time, she inspires the reader with her depiction of a resistance full of characters who--even in the face of hatred and complacency--show love, pride, endurance, courage, and insist on living to the very last breath."--Lawrence Hill, bestselling author of The Illegal and The Book of Negroes

"A beautiful, unapologetic, and unwatered-down burst of fury against cis white supremacy and tyrannical power systems, centered around a main cast that must be fiercely protected. Hernandez writes the best kind of dystopian story, one that holds a sobering mirror up to our own world. Let this book haunt you."--Marie Lu, New York Times bestselling author of the Legend Series

"Catherine Hernandez is groundbreaking. Her talent is remarkable. I dare you not to cry or scream or marvel or, like me, do all at once while reading this book. This story is a masterpiece of voice and metaphor, image and embodiment. But it is also a perfectly crafted portrait of us now, of us then, of the us we hope to be. I love this book, this big, bright missive that not only breaks the ground, but that gifts us with the steps to take in order to get to the other side, together."--Cherie Dimaline, bestselling author of The Marrow Thieves and Empire of Wild

"In Crosshairs . . . the distinction between dystopia and reality becomes increasingly imperceptible. . . underscor[ing] that what's dystopian fiction for some is already a reality for others. . . . Crosshairs leaves readers with two promises. The first is that change is possible. If people with privilege can be motivated to take action against systemic oppression, souls can be saved and lives can be spared. The second promise is that without change, we are hurtling toward disaster. Consider this book a call to action. A demand for change, before it is too late."-- "Quill and Quire"

"In Crosshairs, Catherine Hernandez shapes a world at once fantastical and familiar, remarkable and relatable . . . The result is a sparkling but devastating novel about corporate and state cruelty, individual as well as community sacrifice, and Queer Black and Brown kinship that must be protected at all costs. Timely, unapologetic, complicated."--Jenny Heijun Wills, award-winning author of Older Sister, Not Necessarily Related

About the Author

Catherine Hernandez is a proud queer woman of color, radical mother, theater practitioner, award-winning author, and the artistic director of b current Performing Arts and the Sulong Theatre. She is of Filipino, Spanish, Chinese, and Indian heritage, and she is married into the Navajo Nation. She is the author of the plays Singkil and Kilt Pins, the children's book M Is for Mustache: A Pride ABC Book, and the novels Scarborough and Crosshairs.