But a smooth-pretty rogue named Finn Scrios thinks he can bring it all down and take over in the ensuing chaos.
On the other hand, a working schlub named Ector Patterson has been haunted and sickened by recurring mental intrusions. On his way to work, waiting to take a ride on the train-like Tube he witnesses a terrorist attack directed by Scrios, an explosion that leaves killed and maimed innocents all over the station floor. Ector realizes these were exactly the scenes of his sleeping and waking nightmares, the cascade of brief, moving images seeming to lead to an even worse outcome.
When Ector is brought in for questioning as a suspect in the attack, he reveals the premonitions he’s been having. Thinking his execution is next, Ector instead gets removed from custody by a foul-mouthed but infinitely resourceful security director, Gloria Robinson, and then we’re off on a chase. Who will get to Ector first? The powers-that-should-not-be? Finn, the terrorist insurgent? When Gloria brings in her partner Adam Rancor, we wonder, could these three elude capture and bring the whole miserable dystopia down on the heads of their cynical leaders (who, exhibiting some familiar traits for executive branchers, each leave no woman unharassed)?
It’s Gloria we most enjoy. She’s a tall, wise-cracking, seen-it-all, done-it-all-five-times type who can kick the backside of any pretender, reminding us very much of the titular character of Robert Heinlein’s Friday. But Gloria is not an Artificial Person and rather than searching for someone or something to belong to, she becomes that someone for others, driven by a loyalty to friends and an aversion toward bullies.
Parks adroitly handles the trajectories of the multiple characters who must play their parts, from Robert the bombmaker who takes counsel from a contemptuous orange stray cat to Debra, secretary to a handsy chancellor who finally resolves to take no more. Because power in 2276 is too concentrated at the top, too much in the hands of vulgarians obsessed with their own corrupt pursuits, they have their vulnerabilities.
Read the book to find out how those are exploited in a quest to make things slightly better. In a world we can easily see our own becoming (and much sooner than in two centuries), better-making is a whole lot to hope for, but Parks makes the journey toward something better (maybe) engrossing, funny, disturbing and inviting. [Note: The book is unquestionably for grownups, because of some delightfully crass dialogue and exquisitely described gore.]