Prophet Song might be the most intense reading experience I’ve endured this year. As a dystopian all-too-near future told from the perspective of a middle class Irish family who doesn’t heed the warning signs of creeping fascism until it’s too late to flee.

What follows is a harrowing onslaught of disappearances, civil strife, threatening uncertainty, and state terrorism, all witnessed at ground level. Sad, unrelenting, and stylistically dense, the novel is not always easy to get through, but it is an overall rewarding read.