Most of Authority, the second in the Southern Reach Trilogy, is petty office politics, and there is some of it in Hummingbird Salamander as well. One of the funny, interesting things that VanderMeer likes has returned to is the office politics novel. She ends being completely obsessed, leaving her husband and daughter to search for answers.

The more that “Jane Smith” discovers, the further into the mystery she gets. The story unfolds in a very humid way, heavy, stifling, and hot. When a stranger dies and gives her a taxidermized hummingbird, Jane’s obsession with the meaning only increases when people start following her, watching her house, and eventually shooting at her.

She is large, an ex-bodybuilder, and works in security. “Jane Smith” is the main character’s fake name. Following up his past two post-apocalyptic books ( Borne and Dead Astronauts) with an environmental thriller only makes sense in his world. Hummingbird Salamander does not disappoint in making me wonder what is going to happen next. This makes me excited for every new book that VanderMeer releases. The best thing about his work is that it is unpredictable and so varied that you never know what you are going to get. After the Southern Reach Trilogy, it can be argued that he is one of the top five authors currently working today. Jeff VanderMeer consistently writes some of the most interesting and weird fiction. Hummingbird Salamander is Jeff VanderMeer at his brilliant, cinematic best, wrapping profound questions about climate change, identity, and the world we live in into a tightly plotted thriller full of unexpected twists and elaborate conspiracy.

Is the only way to safety to follow in Silvina’s footsteps? Is it too late to stop? As she desperately seeks answers about why Silvina contacted her, time is running out-for her and possibly for the world. Soon, Jane and her family are in danger, with few allies to help her make sense of the true scope of the peril. By taking the hummingbird from the storage unit, Jane sets in motion a series of events that quickly spin beyond her control. Silvina, the dead woman who left the note, is a reputed ecoterrorist and the daughter of an Argentine industrialist. Security consultant “Jane Smith” receives an envelope with a key to a storage unit that holds a taxidermied hummingbird and clues leading her to a taxidermied salamander. From the author of Annihilation, a brilliant speculative thriller of dark conspiracy, endangered species, and the possible end of all things.

Vandermeer hummingbird salamander