Annihilation (Jeff VanderMeer)

A dense, even claustrophobic, evocation of the strangeness that has taken over a section of the southeastern US called Area X. Some unexplained event (ecological? alien?) killed or pushed out all the people, and within the barrier there is untamed wildness and disturbing things that claw at the soul and twist the senses. The first-person narrator (nobody in the whole book has a name) is a member of an expedition sent within the barrier to explore and try to document what is going on in there, but the team quickly falls into paranoia and is overwhelmed by things that can't even be described, much less explained. The writing is gorgeous, drawing you into the deepening horror the main character experiences. This is the first of a series of novels set in this universe, and it never really reaches a resolution, which actually fits with the off-kilter, unnatural feeling of the whole book. I can't say I really liked it, because horror isn't my cup of tea and it reminds me of the kind of Lovecraftian story where loathsome creatures lurk around every corner, but I have to admire how well the author achieved his goal.