Kim Miller
A dystopian story of Melbourne between about 2040 and 2060. Rising sea levels brought on by climate change have flooded the lower parts of the city and are creeping higher. People are separated into two social strata, the Sweet are the higher ground dwellers with employment, power, and influence, and the Swill are those living amid the flood waters. Tall towers have been built for them, and meagre food and services are provided by the government increasingly stretched by the demand.
The Conway family start out as Sweet but with the death of the father are cast down into the Fringe, not quite Swill but with no employment and rejected by their old world. They meet Jimmy Kovacs, the nearby tower boss and protection racketeer. He takes a shine to the widow and her two young sons. The bulk of the novel is the story of these four.
One son is smart and gets elevated for training by the government. The other is a numbers savant and is sought out by black marketeers. Jimmy holds together a whole tower of Swill by strength of personality and mob boss mentality, and extends his influence into the lives of the two growing boys to keep them safe. A crisis occurs soon after the half way point that threatens the whole city and because of their involvement looks as if it will drag them all down with it.
Each chapter of the novel is written first person from the POV of one or other of the characters. This means taking note of the chapter title as it can be confusing. The author gives us deep insight into the thinking of each one as sometimes the same event is covered by two or three characters and we see the variance of understanding of each person. Turner shows that he has great skill in writing interpersonal relationships as this technique could easily become a mess of head-hopping. He knows how and when to pit people against each other, and he knows how to bring them together.
There was an early trope that annoyed me where somebody says, "I've written a novel ..." and it looked as if the book was to be a 'novel within a novel' thing. Luckily Turner's skill as an author and commenter on human life rose above it. In the early pages I had a three star rating in mind for that initial clumsiness but that rose to 4.5 by the end.
A dystopian story of Melbourne between about 2040 and 2060. Rising sea levels brought on by climate change have flooded the lower parts of the city and are creeping higher. People are separated into two social strata, the Sweet are the higher ground dwellers with employment, power, and influence, and the Swill are those living amid the flood waters. Tall towers have been built for them, and meagre food and services are provided by the government increasingly stretched by the demand.
The Conway family start out as Sweet but with the death of the father are cast down into the Fringe, not quite Swill but with no employment and rejected by their old world. They meet Jimmy Kovacs, the nearby tower boss and protection racketeer. He takes a shine to the widow and her two young sons. The bulk of the novel is the story of these four.
One son is smart and gets elevated for training by the government. The other is a numbers savant and is sought out by black marketeers. Jimmy holds together a whole tower of Swill by strength of personality and mob boss mentality, and extends his influence into the lives of the two growing boys to keep them safe. A crisis occurs soon after the half way point that threatens the whole city and because of their involvement looks as if it will drag them all down with it.
Each chapter of the novel is written first person from the POV of one or other of the characters. This means taking note of the chapter title as it can be confusing. The author gives us deep insight into the thinking of each one as sometimes the same event is covered by two or three characters and we see the variance of understanding of each person. Turner shows that he has great skill in writing interpersonal relationships as this technique could easily become a mess of head-hopping. He knows how and when to pit people against each other, and he knows how to bring them together.
There was an early trope that annoyed me where somebody says, "I've written a novel ..." and it looked as if the book was to be a 'novel within a novel' thing. Luckily Turner's skill as an author and commenter on human life rose above it. In the early pages I had a three star rating in mind for that initial clumsiness but that rose to 4.5 by the end.
Astronauts on the moon discover the body of a dead astronaut, but his space suit is different and none of their people are missing. Investigation shows the frozen and mummified corpse to be 50,000 years old. What follows is a cold case investigation as scientists from many fields try to unravel the story of the dead man, who they name Charlie.
Character development and plot are secondary to the investigatory process here, and much of the book is taken up with discussions and conjecture as people suggest various theories and possibilities. Over time more is revealed as they learn to understand printed manuals from Charlie's backpack. They identify a calendar, mathematical formulae, diary notes. But who he is and how he came to be on the moon remains a mystery.
Other explorations change their understanding of the moon's surface structure, and another discovery on one of the moons of Jupiter opens up a whole new area of investigation.
It becomes a bit like an Agatha Christie revelation towards the end as the lead scientist puts together all the clues. The only possibility that holds everything together blows his mind as the history of the solar system and the whole of human evolution is called into question.
Astronauts on the moon discover the body of a dead astronaut, but his space suit is different and none of their people are missing. Investigation shows the frozen and mummified corpse to be 50,000 years old. What follows is a cold case investigation as scientists from many fields try to unravel the story of the dead man, who they name Charlie.
Character development and plot are secondary to the investigatory process here, and much of the book is taken up with discussions and conjecture as people suggest various theories and possibilities. Over time more is revealed as they learn to understand printed manuals from Charlie's backpack. They identify a calendar, mathematical formulae, diary notes. But who he is and how he came to be on the moon remains a mystery.
Other explorations change their understanding of the moon's surface structure, and another discovery on one of the moons of Jupiter opens up a whole new area of investigation.
It becomes a bit like an Agatha Christie revelation towards the end as the lead scientist puts together all the clues. The only possibility that holds everything together blows his mind as the history of the solar system and the whole of human evolution is called into question.