Alerts Hummingbird Salamander, it should be said straightaway, is a pulpy page-turner with as many twists, double-crosses, and mystery-box riddles as one of Dan Brown’s gimcrack potboilers. It’s not a fair comparison, of course, as Jeff VanderMeer is a terrific writer, while Brown struggles with any sentence above the reading level of a Highlights magazine. But in terms of plotting, it’s remarkable how faithful the latest novel from the author of the Southern Reach Trilogy is to the beats and tropes of a conventional thriller. A protagonist receives a strange clue and is quickly ripped out of their normal, domestic life into the shadowy world of terrorists and government operatives; there are rabbit holes of conspiracy and bread crumbs leading to tight-lipped sources; danger and death lurk around every corner.