The Delivery: A Novella

Hurwitz (the Orphan X series) colors within the lines in this predictable, Black Mirror–esque thriller about a family’s encounter with a sinister technology. Mark and Rebecca Higgins are haunted by Rebecca’s recent miscarriage. When Mark’s boss at a content optimization firm offers the pair access to an unspecified technology that will “see to everything you really want,” they fork over $225,000 to get it. To their surprise, they’re sent a coffin-shaped container that houses a humanlike robot, whom their autistic daughter, Maddy, dubs Mr. Man. Initially, the Higginses are delighted that Mr. Man takes care of their household needs and bonds with Maddy. Eventually, though, acts of violence around the Higgins’s neighborhood force them to consider if the newest member of their family might be more dangerous than he seems. Hurwitz telegraphs where the plot is headed early on, and does little to distinguish this halfhearted cautionary tale from a laundry list of similar titles. Florid prose (a pine tree is described as “pointing straight up like a flagpole, like a rifle, like a Gothic spire aimed at the star-beaded darkness overhead”) doesn’t help. Even Hurwitz’s fans are likely to be underwhelmed. Agent: Lisa Erbach Vance, Aaron M. Priest Literary. (May)