Authority

Set in the human world outside Area X, Jeff VanderMeer's 2014 novel turns to the Southern Reach, the secret government agency that has monitored expeditions into that coastal region for thirty years. After the twelfth expedition, the one recounted in Annihilation, the agency is in disarray, and a new director known as Control takes charge. He meets friction from the existing staff, above all the assistant director, Grace Stevenson, and reports to a mysterious handler at Central called the Voice. Sifting interrogation records, hidden notes and long stretches of disturbing video, he begins to uncover the secrets of Area X and uncomfortable truths about himself and the agency. It is the second book in the Southern Reach series.

The Southern Reach trilogy is on a list of 22 books Stephen King recommended on Twitter.