Chemicals

“There is a new taste in Aberdeen’s mouth.  No longer the taste of iron and salt, but a film acidic and bitter.  There it is again.  And again.  A mist slipping down the midline of her tongue, coursing to her lungs.  It is the taste of chemicals.  And it brings her back to life.” – Chemicals by Erica Crockett

Book Synopsis:  After a series of devastating terrorist attacks deprives America of the pharmaceuticals on which it depends, Aberdeen Childress fights to keep her family and an apartment building full of lost souls sane and safe in a city run by agents of the very drug cartel responsible for the attacks. As the military moves in to stop the chaos, private companies deal with those off their medications, and fraudulent faith healers promise deliverance,  Aberdeen is forced to deal with the city’s tormentors to fulfill her needs, and those needs of the people she loves.  In this dystopian America, she must decide if she’ll become a heroine and overcome her enemies or give in to the allure of a fraying society and fulfilled desires.   Faced with an uncertain future and hindered by her own failing lungs, Aberdeen struggles to maintain balance, to save lives, and to survive in a world where chemicals are her salvation and her demise.

Praise for Chemicals

• “When I first started reading Chemicals by literary newcomer, Erica Crockett, I had to look up the author’s name again to make sure I wasn’t reading Charlie Huston or Chuck Palahniuk. The writing is that good. The story about a world devoid of pharmaceuticals is even better. Imagine a world where cartels terrorize society and something as everyday-taken-for-granted as a baby aspirin is a rare thing to possess. This is one of the most intelligent and suspenseful novels by a young, sure-to-be superstar that I’ve read in a long time.”

  –          Vincent Zandri, New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author of The Remains and Everything Burns

• “Chemicals is bound to be a bestseller. Crockett constructed an engaging plot centered around America’s dependence on drugs and delivered it in a tight, literary package. Read this book.”

  –          Mazal Simantov, Creator of AudioBook Pop!

• “Erica Crockett’s debut novel Chemicals is a deconstruction of big pharma. It is a masterful narrative that betrays her sly pagan roots. The prose has a decidedly distinct voice—the dialogue and characters are carefully crafted with a dark, biting humor, just enough to pierce through the delightfully foreboding sense of doom conjured by a society entirely overrun by drug cartels and lack of any real political order. A must read for fans of dystopian sci-fi.”

  –          Benton Rooks, author of TRETA-YUGA

 

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Chemicals is the second novel I penned.  Written on and off over the course of two years, it follows a bleeding heart heroine named Aberdeen as she navigates her way through an American landscape bereft of pharmaceutical drugs.  Clocking in around 100,000 words, Chemicals is my debut novel.

For more about the process of bringing Chemicals to market, please read this blog post.

Please message me at contact@ericacrockett and let me know how you liked the book or leave me a review on Amazon or Goodreads if you thought Chemicals was an entertaining and worthwhile read.

The very talented musician Oscar Ortega crafted a wonderful book trailer for my novel.  Please check it out!