THE COMPLETIONIST

THE COMPLETIONIST by Siobhan Adcock is a page-turning thriller set in a dystopian future. This is a world where climate change and resource shortages have had chilling consequences: wars are fought over water, there’s widespread infertility, and everyone is tracked by a wearable device—which means no one is ever off the grid.

Even more compelling than this upside-down version of our world are the three adult siblings at the heart of the story.

Carter, 24, just back from the wars, is the loveable fuck up of a younger brother we all know too well—a good guy at heart who’s made bad decisions and is now trying to cope with the fall out. Fred, Carter’s tough older sister, is pregnant—a rare and miraculous event—and about to be married into an extremely wealthy family. Their beloved sister Gardner has vanished, and they suspect it has something to do with the work she was doing as a Completionist—a specialized nurse for pregnant women. Finding Gardner before Fred’s wedding is the tick-tock device that drives the plot, but discovering what binds these three siblings to one another, experiencing all the ways they hate and love each other, gives the book its emotional power.

The story is told by flawed protagonist, Carter. Readers will love him for his dark humor, his youth, his problematic drinking, and his conflicted devotion to his sisters. Since he is a veteran, his mission to find his sister is complicated by the health issues he’s sustained in the aftermath of war. All the odds are against him and rooting for his improbable success is part of what drives the high page-turning quotient.

THE COMPLETIONIST is a tale of familial devotion in extreme circumstances. It’s about how the bonds between siblings are fraught and messy and agonizing. How family is at times your worst enemy and yet your only saving grace when the world comes crashing down around you. It is by turns darkly funny, gripping, poignant, and frighteningly prescient, I think this has all the elements of a cross-over success.

Siobhan Adcock is the Editorial Director and content strategy lead for award-winning digital food, travel, and lifestyle brands at Whattoexpect.com. She received her MFA in fiction from Cornell University, and her short fiction has appeared in several literary magazines. She has worked as a writer and editor for Epicurious, Gourmet.com, Village.com, and The Known, among other digital publishers.