The novel, set in a near-future world where the global population has been reduced after catastrophic events, was well received by critics and won the 2017 Philip K. Dick Award.

She drew inspiration from events in human history such as the Rwandan genocide, and from the Gombe Chimpanzee War recorded by primatologist Jane Goodall.

[1] The novel was partly inspired by a newspaper article Casper had read about Roméo Dallaire, the former commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda, being found intoxicated and suicidal on a park bench in Hull, Quebec.

[2] She became fascinated by the impact that witnessing genocide could have on a person,[1] and flew to Ottawa to attend talks by Dallaire,[2] who had become an advocate for people living with PTSD.

[3] Casper originally planned to write a biography about him, but changed her mind after learning that he was already working on an autobiography titled Shake Hands with the Devil.

The first part of the novel takes place in former Seattle where Mercy earns a meager living as a parking enforcement officer and secretly keeps pet goldfish.

[13] In Quill & Quire, reviewer Robert J. Wiersema noted that the novel's format as a fictional diary allowed for "emotional immediacy and directness", and "suits the material, which circles around questions of truth and memory, trust and betrayal.

[16][7] Candace Fertile of the Vancouver Sun felt that the book "work[s] on two levels: as a cautionary tale and as an examination of one man’s struggle to find meaning in life.

"[8] Publishers Weekly wrote that "Casper employs clear, concise prose that at a steady clip, and the exploration, through one man's account, of what it means to outlive one's purpose is tightly constructed if not especially groundbreaking.