Authority
Jeff VanderMeer
The Southern Reach from outside
Annihilation: Book One of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy (now augmented with a prequel) was narrated in the first person by a woman whom we know only as "the biologist." It was told entirely from within Area X, the mysterious "contaminated" stretch of seacoast that is the subject of the series. It was eerie and terrifying in the sense defined by Steven King
Terror, when you come home and notice everything you own had been taken away and replaced by an exact substitute. It's when the lights go out and you feel something behind you, you hear it, you feel its breath against your ear, but when you turn around, there's nothing there...
The second novel, Authority, is less terrifying, because the fear is more open. The story is told from the point of view of a man who describes himself thus
Now he was John Rodriguez again, “Control” falling away. John Rodriguez, son of a sculptor whose parents had come to this country looking for a better life. Son of a woman who lived in a byzantine realm of secrets.
Control is a spy. After the failure of the expedition that included the biologist, the Southern Reach (that's the organization responsible for managing Area X) is in crisis, and Control is sent in as the new director to get it working again.
It is, of course, a god-awful mess. It transpires that not only is Area X full of weirdness, but even the Southern Reach itself and Central, the intelligence organization under whose auspices Control, his mother, and the Southern Reach itself, all operate, is one Hell of a mess.
This was not quite as good as Annihilation -- the mysteries and the characters are more conventional. It was still good -- it still has that "trust nothing" feel -- and my curiosity is sufficiently engaged to make me continue reading the series.