Authority - Jeff Vandermeer

In Authority , the New York Times bestselling second volume of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach Trilogy , Area X's most disturbing questions are answered . . . but the answers are far from reassuring. In Annihilation , Jeff VanderMeer introduced Area X--a remote and lush terrain mysteriously sequestered from civilization. This is the second volume. For thirty years, the only human engagement with Area X has taken the form of a series of expeditions monitored by a secret agency called the Southern Reach. After the disastrous twelfth expedition chronicled in Annihilation , the Southern Reach is in disarray, and John Rodriguez, aka Control, is the team's newly appointed head. From a series of interrogations, a cache of hidden notes, and hours of profoundly troubling video footage, the secrets of Area X begin to reveal themselves--and what they expose pushes Control to confront disturbing truths about both himself and the agency he's promised to serve. And the consequences will spread much further than that.