Book Review: ‘The Cartographers: A Novel’ By Peng Shepherd

I really liked the debut novel from Peng Shepherd, The Book Of M, and know she’s back with her follow-up and it’s another intense thriller, set in the world of maps. I was not familar with the term cartographer, a person who draws or produces maps, but I am now. Much like her first book, there are greatly written characters and magical maps, that starts off strong and never lets up, right to the shocking end. Neil Young is a lost her mother when she was really young in a fire and it was just her and her dad Dr. Daniel Young. She became a cartograper and interned at NYPL under her father with her boyfriend Felix. But seven years ago an arguement over an old gas map got her fired and ruined her career. She hasn’t spoken to him since. But now she learns he is dead in his office. She finds a secret copy of the gas map in his desk and wonders why he had it and what he was doing. She starts an investigation on her own and it leads to shocking reveals, more people dying and her parents secret past. This is the last known copy of the gas map and Neil soon discovers it’s magical secret and why someone has been willing to kill for it.

You can pick up The Cartographers in stores on Tuesday, March 15th from William Morrow.