Fans of future shock fiction will find much to enjoy in Laura Bynum's debut novel, a dystopian thriller with an alarmingly credible premise. Playing on the very real fears of our current age, the novel draws from such works as 1984 and The Handmaid's Tale, but with its unusual characters and dreamlike narrative, creates an entirely fresh take on what might be in store.
The main action of the novel takes place a mere 35 years from now, but the defining moment of its world occured in 2012. At that time, "the Pandemic"--a monster virus worse than bird flu, Ebola or any other biological scourge yet imagined--wiped out half the population of the U.S. During this plague, the government was seized by a small group who quickly turned the nation into the Confederation of the Willing, a kind of horrific police state that is all too easy to imagine. Control over the population is achieved in three important ways: publicly provided and sanctioned drugs and prostitution; a police force of Blue Coats who punish infractions with on-the-spot rape and murder; and--most importantly--a computerized device called a "slate" implanted in the necks of everyone over the age of four. The slate records and transmits every utterance, a crucial function, because when a person speaks a forbidden--or Red-Listed--word, the slate delivers electric shocks of varying degrees to its bearer. As well as a centralized computer system, the government keeps tabs on its citizens with the help of Monitors (psychics who can read auras and are capable of astral travel).
Harper Adams is a skilled Monitor whose buried knowledge of the "beforetime" makes her uneasy with her present. That uneasiness blossoms into fear when her best friend is killed by Blue Coats. Then, when her daughter's name--Veracity--is added to the Red List, Harper is tipped over the edge and joins an underground resistance who are guided by the teachings of a fabled "Book of Noah."
Harper is an expertly drawn character whose voice is resonant and authentic. So, too, are Bynum's descriptions of a society deprived of thought and language and controlled by fear. And so many of the details in this story (the revelation of the "Book of Noah," to name just one) are flat-out chilling--especially when one realizes how fine the line is between this book's reality and our own.--Debra Ginsberg
Shelf Talker: A thoughtful, chilling and highly visual dystopian thriller about what can happen when a society is deprived of words and controlled by fear.