Exit Party by Emily St. John Mandel Published by Knopf on September 15 2026
Genres: Adult, Dystopian, Literary fiction
Pages: 320
Format: Finished hardcover
Source: Purchased
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The nitty-gritty: A twisty, puzzle box of a story that moves through time and space in a carefully crafted narrative, Exit Party is another stunning entry in Emily St. John Mandel’s unique, futuristic world.
“Go on,” Eddie says, with a smile,”you know you want to.” Swan Dive is all around me, and I’ve somehow misjudged the situation: this isn’t a room at all. The sea ripples below. I take a few steps out onto the diving board, and dive into the blue.”
It’s so hard to convey how much I love Emily St. John Mandel’s books, no matter how gushing my reviews are, and Exit Party is just as strange and wonderful as the others I’ve read. It’s been four long years since the publication of Sea of Tranquility, and that time is justified simply because the story is so intricate, so carefully thought out and plotted, that I can only imagine the time and effort that went into writing it. I would call this science fiction only because the story takes place in the future and parallel/alternate universes are involved, but there’s also a strong crime thriller element that gives it a dangerous edge.
The story unfolds through two different timelines with different but similar characters. In 2031 Los Angeles (“Side A”), we follow Ari Waker, a woman who was just released from an eighteen-year prison sentence for taking a hit out on her cousin Anton. In this near future America, the country has collapsed and fractured into city states run by militia groups. Bombings and terrorist attacks are a daily threat, and day to day survival is a way of life for most people. In Los Angeles, things are settling down and the enforced curfews have finally been lifted, and to celebrate, Ari’s roommate Gloria drags her to a party at the home of her friend Kareem. But something odd happens. Ari sees a woman who looks just like Gloria but her name is Nico, and Nico seems confused. Later, Ari sees Kareem go into the kitchen but he never comes out. That is the last time she sees him.
The second timeline (“Side B”) takes place in a very different United States, several decades in the future. In this version of America, an entity called Internal Security Service keeps the peace by hiring secret agents who surveil everyone and report on any subversive activities. There are no wars or food shortages, but “freedom” is tenuous. If you’re caught speaking against the State you’ll be arrested and taken away to a secret facility, never to be seen again. In this section we meet Ibari Waker, who has been in Service her entire adult life and is about to retire. Her friend Nico disappeared years ago, and Nico’s children Samir and Marlowe are now adults. Before she disappeared, Nico had confessed to Ibari that she was involved in an illegal experiment that could help dissenters of the State, but something went wrong and this is when Nico vanished.
Both timelines are connected by a painting called Swan Dive, created in the 1960s by Lucas Alkaitis and given to Kareem, and indeed the painting is first seen at Kareem’s party, hanging on his wall. But the painting’s themes of diving headfirst into the ocean also echo in Ibari’s timeline, and so it becomes a door of sorts, tying all the characters from both timelines together in some ingenious ways. I loved the labeling of the different sections, Side A and B referring to a vinyl record that is a single disc but has two distinct sides, a visual representation of what a parallel world might look like.
This is such an intricately plotted story that’s nearly impossible to describe, and if I could I’d read it again to pick up details I might have missed the first time. Mandel jumps back and forth in time, so the story isn’t linear by any means, and yet somehow she’s managed to write a compelling mystery that is hard to put down. I loved both timelines—which by the way, are two rather depressing versions of what America might look like in the future, probably because they are so believable—but I think my favorite was Side A. I loved Ari, a cunning and resourceful woman who is just trying to survive. When she finally emerges from prison into a radically changed America, she must return to a life of crime by necessity, and some of these scenes are so harrowing. We see her move from L.A. to Ohio with her future husband Felix, and then to Paris where she begins to collect art and ends up with the painting Swan Dive, sold to her by a desperate Gloria who stole it from Kareem during the party. Many other characters cross her path, including Gloria’s son Sebastian and Gloria’s doppelganger Nico, and all of them are connected in crazy ways.
All of Emily St. John Mandel’s books contain Easter eggs, which is part of the fun of reading them. For example, Ari was first introduced in The Singer’s Gun (which I plan to read soon!), and even the artist of Swan Dive appears in previous books. References to Samir’s job on the Moon are callbacks to parts of Sea of Tranquility, and I’m sure there are more that I’m forgetting. All of her books can be read as standalones, but once you read one, you’ll want to immerse yourself in her world (referred to as the “Mandelverse”) to discover these connections for yourself. Despite the grim futures she has imagined, there’s an underlying feeling of hope and beauty in the small, every day moments in life, even when the world is falling apart around you.
The story is eerie and melancholy at times, as characters face the fact that something important has been lost, and these moments stand out as some of my favorites. Eventually all the dots begin to connect as the reader comes to understand Mandel’s vision, but honestly, getting there is half the fun. Highly recommended!
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