Hole in the Sky

A Wall Street Journal, Scientific American, and Gizmodo Best Book of the Year • American Library Association Alex Award Winner

“[Hole in the Sky] starts off as science fiction and ends somewhere in the murky realm of cosmic horror and elder gods, but getting there is so enjoyable it will please a wide variety of readers. Military aficionados will love the jargon and tech, and Mr. Wilson does a masterly job of combining Native American experience and ancestral connection with modern warfare for a satisfying resolution.”
—Wall Street Journal

“Wilson, the author of Robopocalypse, is back with another epic…. A well-executed thriller…. Wilson slowly ratchets up the weirdness.”
—Washington Post

“Wilson reimagines first contact through an Indigenous lens, fusing Cherokee cosmology with cutting-edge science and creeping cosmic horror…. Cerebral and visceral — part techno-thriller, part elegy, part fever dream. Cinematic in scope yet intimate at heart, “Hole in the Sky” balances nightmarish imagery with emotional resonance…. A bold, imaginative and deeply human take on what happens when we meet the unknown, and realize it’s been here all along.”
—Seattle Times

“Where Indigenous knowledge meets science fiction…. Another mind-bending novel…. Wilson takes readers on a journey of dealing with the unknown.”
—Cherokee Phoenix

“A first contact story, Hole in the Sky seems a familiar tale. Yet in its telling, Daniel H. Wilson chooses the road less traveled by. Wielding immediate prose and Native mythology, Wilson draws on his own deep roots to weave a story that is not only thrilling and personal, but an important addition to the landscape of science fiction.”
—Pierce Brown, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Red Rising series

“Incredible… Hole in the Sky is not only a thrilling, brilliant page-turner, its pages also turned me into the kind of reader I always want to be—deeply involved and curious about the world and the story unfolding before me, as if by magic—the kind of reader who can’t stop reading, who dreads the book coming to an end even while I can’t stop making my way toward it, who goes back and starts all over to figure out how it was done. Here we have a highly original premise about alien contact—no small feat unto itself—which also manages to seamlessly fold in Indigenous lives and knowledge. Every character here is alive, and there are so many stunning sentences I had to stop underlining. The story is killer. I love it. Run don’t walk to read this book.”
—Tommy Orange, New York Times bestselling author of There There and Wandering Stars

“Hole in the Sky is mind-bending…. Indigenous knowledge collides with science fiction in a thrilling page-turner.”
—Sterlin Harjo, filmmaker and writer, Reservation Dogs

“An expertly constructed, tightly-paced novel packed with ideas, populated with vivid characters, and suffused with heart and intelligence. Daniel Wilson is a talented storyteller, with a gift for crafting imaginative and entertaining narratives, and Hole In The Sky is no exception. Captivating and full of wonder.”
—Charles Yu, National Book Award-winning author of Interior Chinatown

“Part thriller, part horror, Hole in the Sky is an Indigenous tale of first contact in the vein of Arrival that asks us what is reality and what is a dream and if there is a difference. Strange and wondrous and terrible all at once.”
—Rebecca Roanhorse, New York Times bestselling author of Black Sun

“Hands down one of the best books I’ve read in a couple of years. Daniel H. Wilson has crafted a technotradish ride into the future in the most harrowing and engaging ways imaginable. Tightly tuned, sharply researched, and warm in all the best ways, you’ll want to clear your schedule because this is a sit-down-and-read-the-whole-thing-right-now kind of book. Bravo, Mr. Wilson!”
—Theodore C. Van Alst Jr., bestselling co-editor of the Never Whistle At Night series

“This book doesn’t whisper. It roars from the edges of space, memory, and grief. Hole in the Sky is Indigenous sci-fi at its rawest: part cosmic threat, part broken father-daughter elegy, part fever dream of classified government failures. The humanity here is bruised, sharp-tongued, and holding on. And the fear? It’s in the blood. This one gets under your skin and stays there.”
—Shane Hawk, bestselling co-editor of the Never Whistle at Night series

“Wilson has an exceptional narrative voice and captures many different points of view to create a world that feels real and is suddenly in catastrophic, even existential, danger…. The ending broke my heart in the best way possible.”
—Scientific American

“The narrative has a grand feel and despite its many influences is utterly original, balancing the epic with a story that is deeply personal. It reminded me of why I love reading. I devoured it.”
—Craig DiLouie, author of Episode Thirteen, Gizmodo

“Hole in the Sky is a classic alien-contact thriller…. There are moments of fear – humans in great danger of being attacked by aliens; and of wonder – when the true nature of the alien becomes ap[1]parent…. This is a novel about humanity: the people who approach the strange with fascination and curiosity, and those who approach it with fear…. An enjoyable entry into this venerable genre.”
—Locus Magazine

“Wilson (Robopocalypse) draws on his Cherokee heritage to meld Native American and scientific knowledge into a stunning phantasmagoric first contact tale…. Like the best X-Files episodes, this story uses the alien character to bring out the human elements in vivid detail. It’s a masterful feat.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred)

“Mind-blowing…. Wilson’s suspenseful, adrenaline-filled adventure will keep readers engaged and guessing to the end.”
—Library Journal

“[Hole in the Sky is] worth the wait… unique, enthralling, and spectacularly well told…. [Wilson is] drawing on personal heritage and experience in this book, and it shows: this is his most
emotionally rich, spiritually resonant novel, and it’ll stay with readers long after the last page has been turned.”
—Booklist

“Wilson is no stranger to big-thinking epistolary SF epics. Here, armed with a few novel entry points into an old horror story (à la The Thing), he turns his attention to an alien invader way more frightening than a microbe…. Wilson stitches together a prescription bottle’s worth of nightmarish images, invasive biotechnology, and Indigenous cosmology…. Less spectacle than a robot uprising but deeper, weirder, and harder to shake off.”
—Kirkus Reviews