The People in the Trees

Every now and then I pick up a book and literally cannot put it down.  I read Hanya Yanagihara's debut novel The People in the Trees in two days, despite it being nearly 500 pages long.  It is a tale so absorbing, fantastical, and shocking, that it captured me from the get go.  Dr. Norton Perina visits a Micronesian island where he makes a game changing discovery about a native tribe that has found a way to maintain immortality.  We learn from the very beginning that Perina has been convicted of terrible crimes, but it isn't until the end of the novel that all is revealed.  Perina, as antihero, keeps us riveted as the story unfolds though we want to look away at the same time.  Totally fascinating read - highly recommended.