National Network for Equitable Library Service

A New York Times Editor’s Choice. Best Book of 2023 by Esquire, Apple Books, HuffPost, GQ, Cosmopolitan, and Goodreads. Finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel and the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award. "Brazen, exhilarating, fun, and surprising! I couldn't predict where this novel was going, but I was definitely along for the ride." — Ling Ma, author of Severance. A blazingly original and stylish debut novel about a young man whose reality unravels when he suspects his mysterious employers have inadvertently discovered time travel—and are using it to cover up a string of violent crimes. Four days before Christmas, 8-year-old Bo loses his mother in a tragic accident, 28-year-old Brandon loses his job after a hostile takeover, and 48-year-old Blue, a key witness in a criminal trial against a now-defunct tech startup, struggles to reconnect with his family. Jinwoo Chong’s dazzling, time-bending debut blends elements of neo-noir and speculative fiction as Bo, Brandon, and Blue's lives begin to intersect, uncovering a vast network of secrets and an experimental technology that threatens to upend life itself. Intertwined with them is the saga of an iconic ’80s detective show, Raider, whose star actor has imploded spectacularly after revelations of long-term, concealed abuse. Flux is a haunting and sometimes shocking exploration of the cyclical nature of grief, of moving past trauma, and of the pervasive nature of whiteness within the development of Asian identity in America.