Arden Perth

The Vanishing Set is literary espionage that combines the complex machinations of Le Carré with the radical urgency of “How to Blow Up a Pipeline.” It follows Ana, an ineffective anti-fascist who has become disillusioned with the limitations of her community organization’s protest and mutual aid tactics. After a demonstration against a defense contractor turns deadly, anarchists are framed for the violence, police disappear prominent activists off the street, and a far-right group exploits the chaos to target refugees fleeing a climate catastrophe.

Ana recognizes that visibility puts her movement at risk. Drawing inspiration from a revolutionary folk hero, she recruits four fellow revolutionaries into a grassroots, clandestine project to uncover what is behind the seemingly disconnected incidents plaguing her community. She teaches herself tradecraft, but her sense of self slips as she obscures her identity to infiltrate and surveil those whom she believes to be responsible. As Ana comes face-to-face with these dangerous factions, she becomes increasingly paranoid and isolated from everyone and everything she once loved. In the pursuit of collective survival, she searches for a way to both liberate the climate migrants she will never meet while reintergrating her new identity with her humanity.