Tilt A novel

At the start of Patee's fascinating and emotional debut, the world is moving on like it always does. Annie is raging at an IKEA employee, trying to buy a crib at the eleventh hour before her baby comes. When a massive earthquake ravages Portland, Oregon, Annie becomes trapped under a set of metal shelves. Once she gets out, she finds that cars have been swallowed by the earth, buildings are toppled, and bridges are down. Hugely pregnant and desperate, Annie can only search for her husband, Dom. As she walks, she witnesses the horrors of the event and feels powerless to help; she's restrained by her condition and singularly focused on finding Dom. Along the way, Annie thinks back to her younger years, when she was a playwright and Dom was an actor, and how their future seemed so bright. She'd given up her art to make money; her regrets haunt her, but they're nothing compared to what's ahead. Annie directly addresses her baby as she tells this story with a compelling voice. Instantly readable and filled with dry humor, this book follows in the footsteps of other disaster novels while bringing a fresh take to the genre.

In Pattee's nail-biting debut, a pregnant woman navigates the aftermath of a major earthquake in Portland, Ore. The story opens with Annie, 35, shopping for a crib at IKEA on her first day of maternity leave. She grows angry with salesperson Taylor for overlooking her, until a massive tremor rattles the building and she's trapped by shifting boxes and cabinets. After Taylor helps her escape, Annie flees without her wallet or keys, joining a crowd walking to the heart of the city. She needs to find her husband, Dom, a jovial, struggling actor who works at a café four miles away. Despite her pregnancy, few are willing to give her a ride on the city's cracked streets, and she is wary of those who do stop. Still, Annie is tenacious and leans into her dark sense of humor, mentally drafting an Instagram post ("Well, didn't think my morning would go like this") and wondering if all the damaged housing might mean that she and Dom will be able to afford their own place. Pattee's depiction of a post-earthquake Portland feels bracingly realistic, and her depictions of marriage and impending motherhood are achingly raw. Shocking and full of heart, this leaves a mark. Agent: Julie Barer, Book Group. (Mar.)