Lights Out in the Reptile House - Jim Shepard

Author Jim Shepard's spellbinding, terryfying and unforgettable new novel explores a young man's coming of age in a brutally repressive totalitarian society. It is the story of Karel Roeder, a quiet, apolitical 15-year-old who seeks anonymity as the zoo's assistant herpetologist - hoping to remain unnoticed by a tyrannical government bolstered by fear, propaganda and mass murder. But his awakening desires for the enigmatic, outspoken Leda and his devotion to Albert Delp, his dissident mentor at the reptile house, place Karel at dangerous odds with the ruthless powers he fervently wishes to avoid - shattering his innocence, forcing him to choose between personal safety and moral idealism... and introducing him first-hand to the dark arts of interrogation and torture.