Exhumation

by Nicholas Binge

A London P.I. investigates the disappearance of a young woman with ties to an underground cult whose roots reach deeper than he could have possibly imagined


Arlo Abbas has never shied away from a challenge. As a private investigator in London with a complicated past, he doesn’t have that luxury. But when he finds £10,000 deposited into his nearly empty bank account and a note stuffed in his mailbox that says “Find Sophie Banik,” he realizes this is no ordinary missing-persons case.

But the deeper Arlo delves, the more horrific truths reveal themselves: Sophie was murdered five months ago. A clandestine lab is performing human trials that blur the lines between life and death. And a mysterious underground organisation—part cult, part bizarre scientific experiment—toils toward some unknown end deep in the bowels of the earth.

In Exhumation, Nicholas Binge has written an edge-of-your-seat speculative thriller that’s also a gripping exploration of fanaticism, mythology, and morality. A psychological journey through grief and generational trauma, Exhumation explores our human impulse to bury our secrets and how the path to truth can be the most painful to tread.

Genres: Horror, Science Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Fiction, Fantasy, Adult

448 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication December 1, 2026

About the author

Nicholas Binge is a bestselling author of speculative thrillers that blend big sci-fi concepts with psychological horror. He also writes crime and thriller novels under the pseudonym Nick Brucker, with his debut White Smoke set to release in 2027.

In 2023, his breakout novel Ascension was a New York Times Editor's Choice Pick, finalist for the Goodreads' Choice Awards and Ignotus Award, and named a ‘best book of the year’ by Vulture, Goodreads, The LA Times, and The Sunday Times. His sophomore novel, Dissolution, was hailed as one of the best thrillers of 2025 by The New York Times and other leading outlets, and was followed swiftly by the critically acclaimed novellas Extremity and Abyss.

His work has been, or is being, translated into 30 languages and several of his novels are in active development for either film or TV. Notably, Dissolution is being adapted into a major motion picture by Sony Pictures, with Oscar-nominated screenwriter Eric Heisserer (Arrival, Birdbox) penning the script, and White Smoke is being adapted into a prestige TV series by A24, with Benedict Cumberbatch starring in the lead. Ascension and Extremity are also in active development for film and TV, respectively. He is also creating and writing a TV show for Netflix entitled Understudy, alongside Steven Yeun, Phil Lord, and Chris Miller.

Binge has lived across Asia and Europe — from Singapore to Switzerland to Hong Kong —before settling in the UK, where he writes and co-hosts the Binge Reading Book Club podcast. Beyond fiction, he has written for The Guardian, Literary Hub, and other leading outlets, and is a regular speaker at book festivals across the UK and internationally.

His next book, Exhumation, arrives October 2026. To stay updated on new releases and appearances, sign up to his newsletter or follow him on Bluesky.

Reviews

[Nicholas Binge]

Oh ho ho ho this one is gonna get crazy weird

[Balthazarinblue]

4.5 stars

EXHUMATION is the type of book I love to read but hate to review. To quote Noel Harrison, the plot is
"A circle in a spiral, a wheel within a wheel
Never ending nor beginning on an ever-spinning reel
As the images unwind like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind"
How do you talk about a story like that without accidentally spoiling it? (Sorry for the earworm.)

Here's what I can say: EXHUMATION is a speculative sci-fi detective story. Arlo is a great POV character. He's not quite as hardboiled as a true noir detective but he's sardonic, pragmatic, tortured by the ghosts of own past bad decisions, and he goes with his gut. Reading this is like solving a puzzle box. Opening one drawer triggers a hidden switch to a secret compartment and so on. When a story winds itself into an ever iterating, esoteric Möbius strip it can be hard to stick the landing (NIGHT FILM, I'm looking at you.) I think EXHUMATION did a good job. Initially, I had a brief moment of "that's it?" but Binge didn't stop at the superficial. He, as the kids say, 'did the work' and by the final pages, I was quite satisfied with how he pulled everything together. Speaking of, don't skip the Acknowledgements. There's a nice post-credits Easter Egg.

Perfect for fans of Marisha Pessl, Blake Crouch, and Dennis Lehane.

[Hannah]

I received a copy of this book for review consideration from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinion expressed here are my own.

I honestly do try to be disciplined in my approach to ARC reading and prioritize books by release date. But when I had the absurdly good luck to get approved for Exhumation by Nicholas Binge, I kind of threw my reading plans out the window and indulged in yet another mind-bending sci-fi thriller from an author who has quickly become one of my favorites in the genre.

The first few chapters had me a little worried that this book would be missing the unconventional narrative structure I've come to associate with Binge. Ascension unfolded through out-of-order letters from a doomed mountain expedition. Dissolution relied on interview transcripts with the feistiest pensioner ever to get dragged into time-travel shenanigans. So when Exhumation initially played out like a fairly straightforward (if admittedly weird) detective novel, I found myself a little disappointed.

But I should have trusted Binge. He layers this story with journal entries and recording transcripts that lead the reader down into the rabbit hole of this underground story. And, of course, there's exactly the kind of Christopher Nolan-esque sci-fi that I've come to expect from his novels. If you loved the dreams-within-dreams-within-dreams of Inception but wished the story went to even stranger places... then I have some very good news for you and an excellent book recommendation.

Binge has now delivered three delightfully strange, intellectually playful sci-fi thrillers, and with each one my admiration for his work has only grown. Exhumation firmly cements him among my favorite authors working in the genre today, and I have a feeling it won't be long before his name starts showing up on a lot of "best of the year" lists.

[Marcia Arguelles]

What an awesome read! Incredible what the human mind can come up with.
Full of twists and turns I was confused most of the time and that’s fine by me cause I felt like I was part of the book.
Yet another Nicholas binge book I absolutely loved!

[Ryan]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC. I’m rounding my 3.5 stars up so I don’t have to have the displeasure of giving the first <4 star review.

If we are doing rankings of Nicholas Binge’s three big novels, I’m firmly Ascension -> Exhumation -> Dissolution. Idk if Professor Everywhere counts, but I even liked that more, I think. And at one point, I really thought this would get all of my neurons firing like Ascension did, but it never quite got there for me.

People will like almost certainly adore this novel for all the twists, turns, the POV shifts and the way the story wraps in on itself. For me, at some point I had to stop trying to keep track of these things, and enjoy the ride. But for someone who likes to think HARD, I think I needed more of the iceberg here to have a vested interest that didn’t require a large suspension of disbelief, particularly after what I consider to be the big “reveal” of the book.

The red herrings thrown in are sort of predictable. And there are some reveals that happen so late that, to have to recontextualize everything I read prior, sort of pushed me out. Looking back, they make SENSE. The groundwork was laid out, but I’m not sure it’s enough for my personal taste.

This is more trope-filled than previous Binge novels, from my point of view, and I think it sort of suffers in that regard. Anyway, this is reading as a review from someone who didn’t enjoy themselves, which is NOT the case. I read it in 3 days after all - I needed to know how it ended. I just wanted to have that lightning-in-a-bottle feeling I got reading Ascension.

In a lot of ways, this is a return-to-form after Dissolution, and I can’t wait to see where Nicholas Binge goes next.

[Debbie]

Thank you to Riverhead Books for an advanced copy of this book for consideration of review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Nicholas Binge, you are a mastermind and have done it again. I will never understand how your brilliant brain works, but I’m so grateful for it and the insane stories it provides us.


I’ll start by saying much like Binge’s other books, I spent a good chunk of the story utterly confused and thinking I may just not be smart enough to understand this one. Yet, magically, the pieces start to click together and by the end I (pun intended) binged most of book in one sitting as everything started making sense and I needed to know what happened! Basically, if you also find yourself a little lost and considering DNF - don’t! The connections make more sense as you go just like the characters in the book are also trying to figure out what’s going on.

There are a few storylines/timelines/POVs in this book. We start with a detective who is given an odd note to “find Sophie Banik” with a sizable payment discovered in his bank account for a case he didn’t agree to take. We learn a little about his life and start to uncover a bit about some top secret research. POV then alternates in with researchers trying to uncover why sleep is necessary for life - especially for those who have a genetic disease that doesn’t allow them to sleep. Then things get really interesting (like they aren’t already!), and we hear from a journalist who attempts to go undercover (and literally underground) to join a cult where people never sleep but instead gets wrapped up into it herself.

I’ll stop here in the plot description as I don’t want to divulge any spoilers, but let’s just say things get a whole lot weirder and interconnected and it’s a brilliant piece of work that comes together in the end. Also - did I detect a hint somewhere in there that there will be a sequel or continuation of some of the characters in future books!?! I’m already excited and this book hasn’t even officially launched yet! Ha!

Lastly, don’t skip the Acknowledgments at the end, which is written from the POV of the detective and highly amusing.

[Booksblabbering || Cait❣️]

For fans of Blake Crouch, this thriller is very hard to describe and review and categorise. 
I don’t know how I feel about it.

The broadest synopsis I can give you is: Why pay a private investigator you’ve never met to find a dead woman who clearly hasn’t been buried, if she even actually died?

Binge knows how to keep your attention. He also can get into his protagonist’s head, changing writing style, language, and even descriptions.  

People are like mirrors: If they don’t give you a sense of who you are, how would you know?

What starts out as a mystery becomes existential and blends other genres I’m hesitant to name in case of spoilers. 

That was my main issue. I don’t think this book knew what it wanted to be or do. Or maybe the author knew, but the readers were left scratching their head at each new revelation. 

I don’t know how to recommend this to people, so I’m going to list a few words that might grab your attention: sleep, tunnels, cult, Hades, death. 

There was also some thought processes and opinions from the protagonist that had me raising my eyebrow.

Remember that if it’s not their own home, nobody cares. There are some exceptions to this. If you live in a closely knit neighborhood out in the country, which London is not. If you’re Black and the person looking at you is a Tory and over sixty‑five. But for the most part, it’s pretty safe.

This is definitely my least favourite from this author. It is a very quick read with audio transcripts, dream sequences, and three main perspectives. However, the further I read, the less sure I was. 
2.75 stars.🌟

Arc gifted by Harper Voyager. 

Bookstagram
Tiktok

[Sara Ellison]

This book is a DOOZY. It's long. It's speculative. There's three different timelines, and it's not clear what's going on in a single one of them. One of the main characters is a grown man who has changed his name for no obvious reason and now has to keep reminding people he knows that he has a new name--look, I am all for people doing what they want, but in a book with this many crazy details, a random double name with no plot payoff felt like too much.

I am so grateful for having received a digital arc of this book, but this one would have been better for me to read physically, with the ability to flip back and re-read certain passages/chapters, because I kept losing track of details in all the chaos, which made me less excited to pick the book up, which made reading it take longer, which made me forget even more things.... Certain books just work better for me in specific formats, and unfortunately, I think I had the wrong one for this read, and it negatively affected my experience. BUT I did still like this book. Overall, I think the author manages to pull off the insane concept. It's intriguing, and I was invested in the characters and their individual story lines. Everything comes together and ties up in a satisfying way. It's unusual enough to feel fresh and different, but there are enough familiar threads (a detective working a mysterious case, scientists on the verge of a breakthrough, a cult member beginning to question things) to keep from feeling like the author was trying to be weird for the sake of it. This is my second book by this author, and he has a unique style of speculative-meets-psychological mystery that I would recommend for anyone looking to branch out.

[Erica]

Exhumation is a psychological tour de force for fans of Inception and the novel Night Film.

The book follows 3 stories - a former detective, now PI, that's been tasked with a very mysterious new case involving a missing woman and strange cult; a young woman that has joined a literally underground religion that somehow never sleeps, but she is beginning to question some of their practices; and a team of sisters trying to find a cure for people that lose the ability to sleep. You might think you know how the stories connect, but the twists and turns of this book would say otherwise.

Like Binge's previous book Ascension, there are some unique writing devices employed to tell these stories. Through a combination of journals and recording transcripts, as well as typical prose, we experience the three different perspectives.

I absolutely loved this book. I'll admit that it started out a little slow, but once I got into the story I couldn't put it down. Binge manages to write a compelling and confusing mystery, while at the same time dislodging the reader with magical dreamworlds. There were many moments that shocked me, satisfying payouts, and strong character work that solidified this book as a five-star read. This is easily one of my favorites of the year.

Thank you to NetGalley for loaning me an ebook copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Tobie Bird]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing an advance copy in exhange for an honest review.

Exhumation sits in a strange place for me. It was really engrossing and engaging, like a good thriller should be, but I don’t feel like I was ever surprised by the twists and turns it took.

Exhumation starts like a classic noir thriller: we have a broke P.I. who is a loner and almost misanthropic -- which is nothing new in the tradition of noir protagonists – who receives a new job via an anonymous £10,000 deposit into his bank account. This job, to find Sophie Banik, leads him to a set of buried journals where her grave should be. He seems to be stumbling into an occult conspiracy that spreads into the police force and government. It takes a twist away from a typical noir when the protagonist starts reading the journals. They tell the tale of a young woman living among a cult in a strange underground world, and alongside these are excerpts from a clandestine medical experiment.

I mentioned in the introduction to this review that whilst there are dramatic twists and reveals, I was never surprised by them. I don’t think this is necessarily a negative – they are very much earned and make sense in context, and part of what the novel is doing is a twist on the nature of a mystery novel. There are some aspects of the writing that feel weird or clumsy in the first part of the book – for example, it felt a lot like reading a sequel to a book you’ve not read – but I think these are deliberate choices when the nature of the novel’s reality becomes clear.

I really hope the end means we might get more strange mysteries in Arlo Abbas’ London. A Sherlock Holmes style story collection would be a lot of fun.

Overall, this is a good, engaging read. It’s an unconventional thriller where the mystery is reality itself, and if that sounds appealing, then I you’ll have fun with this!

[David Shaw]

A fantastically fresh read that takes you in completely unexpected directions. This starts off as a noir style gumshoe detective novel, the tone very Raymond Chandler/Maltese Falcon, although set in modern day London. The world weary detective narrator is a fun voice to follow, and the mystery intriguing from the start. Little hints that all is not quite what it seems are so subtle that you don't worry too much about them until much later. But with each new twist, you start to question more what on earth is going on, until the massive reveal that feels like a surprise, even though all the ground work has been very carefully laid along the way.

I haven't read Binge's previous novels, but the direction this turns in shouldn't really have surprised me given the genre he writes in. It's best not to know any plot details that aren't given on the cover, so I won't write any details, but this is a beautifully constructed novel, that takes a massive turn as you learn along with the narrator what is going on. Exploring crazy, mind-bending ideas, and huge themes, it's a really satisfying read that keeps you gripped and guessing.

Once everything is made clear, the ending goes a little more abstract than I would have preferred. I think for me, I might have preferred it if it actually stopped after revealing things, rather than continue that adventure, but even so, I still found moments of brilliance in the conclusion that I still really enjoyed. There's not many books that keep me thinking so much when I'm not reading them, or leave me looking for the next possible moment I can pick it up again to carry on reading.

I already own his previous 2 books, but haven't got round to them yet, but they're definitely shooting up to the top of my reading list after this one.

Thanks to Net Galley and Harper Collins for a pre-publication copy in return for an honest review.

[roxygurl74]

Another fantastic mind blowing novel written by Nicolas Binge!
I've been a fan of his work with Ascenscion and Dissolution and this one didnt disappoint.
It's a mystery wrapped around a secret experiment related to sleeplessness and dreamlessness states. Honestly, though a lot of science is explained in the book, I am still unable to wrap my head around this dreamworld that separates the living from the dead, coupled with some theories tying to mythology. It is a grand idea, well written and heart warming in a way as you watch the characters go thru the motions through the story.
The mind is such a big mystery and the author uses this as the basis of his story, and not just this, but his other ones as well. It's deep and thought provoking, made easy creating a story around it and makes you think about life. It was kind of a slow burn, but still engaging. However, towards the end, a lot of bonuses with a few plot twists I didnt expect that gripped me and kept me reading through non-stop.
It's a great read and recommend this book to avid Binge fan readers and new ones alike.

[Julie]

✨Thank you to Riverhead and NetGalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!✨

Binge's latest novel pulled me into the story from the beginning and didn't ever let go! I was a fan of Dissolution, so my expectations were high - so glad that they were exceeded! There were parts that required a bit more patience from me to navigate through (particularly lengthy sections from the journal entries/transcripts), but the payoff was worth it.

Pick this one up if you like:
- Recursion by Blake Crouch (or Dark Matter for that matter)
- Christopher Nolan's Inception.
- Stories about dreams
- A story within a story
- Sci-fi related to alternative reality

This was one of my favorite reads of this year so far!

[Nigel]

Something of a roller coaster for me but often very enjoyable.

In full
A somewhat world weary London based PI, Arlo Abbas, discovers that rather than being almost broke he has £10,000 in his bank account. The mystery is why? Ok there's a clue because he finds a note saying "Find Sophie Banik" which would have been more helpful if he hadn't quickly discovered that she died 5 months ago so this is not simply a missing person case. Apart from the fact that he needs to call in some major favours from people who are a little reluctant to help, this leads him to Brookwood cemetery. All credit to the historical accuracy of this - I didn't know anything about it but the cemetery is quite a unique place.

There's a couple of threads running here. There's Arlo's investigation into Sophie and all that surrounds that however there's also another (at times to me bizarre) thread about people who no longer sleep and live underground as part of an experiment. As with almost any book you need to work on the assumption that things will join up at some stage! In addition to these two threads there are some transcripts that appear to be from the experiment that come up from time to time. I can't put my finger on exactly why but these didn't works as well for me as the other aspects of the story.

This story is not what it sometimes seems, and even when you think you know what it is, it changes and I guess that was refreshing in an era where stories can be rather mundane and predictable. There was a lot to like here and in the main the pace was decent. In the end I thought Arlo was a great character and I really like the twisted nature of his story.

My thanks to the author and the publisher for an advance copy of this book

[Josh Escandon]

Thanks to Riverhead and Netgalley for an eARC of Exhumation by Nicholas Binge. I just finished Exhumation, and I am completely amazed by what I read over the past few days. Exhumation was a perfect sci-fi thriller that slowly unfurled the mystery at its core. The novel begins with private investigator Arlo Abbas being sent down a perplexing rabbit hole that gets weirder and weirder as the plot progresses. Interspersed with Arlo's POV is another main character told through journal entries, as well as audio transcripts from two more supporting characters. All of that adds to the incredible world-building done by Binge and kept me glued to my chair reading on to what happened next. The best sci-fi blends monolithic worlds and mythos with human emotion at its center, and Exhumation did that in spades.

[Hope Stewart]

Soooooo, a missing woman wasn't enough of a problem, so Nicholas Binge decided to add secret cults, underground laboratories, questionable science, multiple timelines, and enough reality-bending nonsense to make me wonder if I was reading a thriller or slowly losing my grip on reality. And I liked it

The detective noir vibe was great, the mystery kept me turning pages, and every time I thought I had things figured out, the book gleefully kicked the table over. Some twists landed better than others, and there were definitely moments when I had absolutely no idea what was going on. Always reassuring when a book starts making you question your own reading comprehension. But I was entertained. Very entertained.

Four stars for being creepy, ambitious, weird as hell, and just convoluted enough to make me feel like I deserved a small certificate for finishing it.

[Bennett T]

Thank you to the publisher for the advance copy.

Exhumation is my favorite Nicholas Binge novel yet, having previously read and enjoyed both Ascension and Dissolution. The story within a story told from multiple characters worked really well here, and the Inception-like dream elements made it hard to put down. Don’t want to get into too many details here because this one will reel you in from the start!

If you haven’t read Binge yet, any of the three is a great starting point — but this one is the best of the bunch.

[Syd Sheldon]

Here’s an absolute mind bender for you! Nothing has changed with me, I’m always a sucker for a book that makes you question everything you know. This one did exactly that, and then some. It’s difficult to leave no spoilers but let’s just say there are elements of several of my favorite sci-fi things (underground living, cults, the power of our minds, loopholes of time, the underworld). Throw a relentless private investigator in there as our protagonist and boom, magic. I never want to forget this one!!!

[Karen Vasey]

A mindbender of a book. I can't even begin to explain anything as it's best to go in knowing as little as possible. Overall for me this wasn't as good as Dissolution which was my first Nicholas Binge read, but it still has some good reveals along the way. as long as you hang in there If you're a fan of some Blake Crouch then this one will be right up your alley!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[sarai]

oh boy this one was a fun ride! a slowly unfolding mystery seeded with plenty of clues that hint at the full tale. three converging timelines - a story within a story within a story. love the hard boiled noir narration - a very distinctive voice - and of course existential horror and mommy issues. the best one i've seen from nicholas binge yet

thanks to riverhead and netgalley for the e-arc!

[LL]

Thank you NetGalley for this advance ACR!

This was a new to me author, the book is not in my genre but I stuck with it. It’s very twisty and confusing and long (for me). Overall I enjoyed it! It’s just not my style.

[Tiffany Preston]

DNF @ 20%

This just took long to get going for me. I loved the premise of this book, but it just didn’t deliver in the way that I had hoped. Essentially I don’t think this book was for me.

***Thank you to NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for a honest review!

[Jordan]

Well, that was a wild ride. I'm going to be thinking about this one for a while.

On another note, it's been a great year for weird genre detective novels.

[Shauna Lawless]

This book is incredible - it will quite literally blow you away