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Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite
As the Waters Rise by Susan Greenberg Feltman follows Police Commissioner Manny Stewart as he juggles his son Zach’s turbulent adolescence, the pressures of policing New York’s crumbling underground Colony, and the unfinished business of his own violent past. At home, Manny faces escalating defiance from Zach—secret padlets, late-night drinking, even stealing his father’s service weapon—while his wife Marya withdraws and their marriage becomes increasingly fragile. Manny responds with a volatile mix of discipline, fear, and reluctant tenderness, desperate to keep Zach from being swallowed up by gangs like the Skulls or manipulated by the powerful Perez-Gopalaswami families. At work, Manny supervises shelter construction in a half-ruined above-ground Central Park, manages corruption probes, and evades investigators who circle old crimes. When Zach is physically trapped in a collapsing subway car, Manny must confront his own limits as both commissioner and father.
As the Waters Rise by Susan Greenberg Feltman is a daring vision of a fractured, underground New York that grows in ways that were completely unexpected for me. The setup is thorough, and Feltman builds an exceptional, fully fleshed-out world, transitioning into latter chapters that strike with particular force, mixing underground unrest, family volatility, and bold steps toward reclaiming the surface. There are some fantastic subplots, with Loosey’s standing out as the strongest, and a townhouse that has an unexpected backstory and brilliant texture. The writing is tight, and while Feltman's style is simple and straightforward, in moments of intense pressure, it explodes spectacularly alongside the eruption of violence, with an undeniable charge that keeps the reader fully invested. Feltman has created an unsettlingly authentic future in a story that commands attention through its scope and imagination. Readers who enjoyed the likes of DuPrau's The City of Ember and Howey's Wool series will find much to love here. Very highly recommended.
