Hernan Diaz returns with 'Ply': a dystopian future for New York

Hernan Diaz, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for 'Trust,' returns to bookstores with a surprising work. 'Ply' (Riverhead) represents a radical shift for the Argentine-American author, abandoning the historical settings of his previous books to project into a distant, dystopian future.

The story is set in a version of New York City rendered almost unrecognizable by the collapse of the United States and the end of modern democracy. Centralized government is a thing of the past, and public services no longer exist: no healthcare, education, or public utilities. The city has become a place of radical decay.

The novel follows the story of two women planning an audacious heist to drain the entire electrical grid of a company called Tensor. Their goal is to power an experiment involving a particle accelerator and a mysterious golden disk, believed to manipulate space-time and reshape the universe.

Despite the ambitious philosophical and scientific premises, according to The New Yorker's review, the intellectual ambitions of 'Ply' end up overwhelming other narrative elements, with some characters existing primarily to lecture the reader. Nevertheless, the work confirms Diaz's determination to be an author to be reckoned with.