"Pandemonium" writer Gregory sets his story in the not-so-distant future. A patient in a detention facility named Lyda is guarding a secret: she helped create the drug Numinous, which makes its users become religious. When a teenager is put in the facility and commits suicide when she is denied the drug, Lyda decides to track down the others who helped create Numinous. Nelson recommends the novel to fans of the AMC TV show "Breaking Bad." "[It's a] cyber-thriller, plain old-fashioned mystery," she says. "It's funny and scary at the same time."
