From Philip K. Dick Award-nominated author M.T. Hill, The Zero Bomb is a startling science fiction mystery that asks: what do we do when technology replaces our need to work?

The near future. Following the death of his daughter Martha, Remi flees the north of England for London. Here he tries to rebuild his life as a cycle courier, delivering subversive documents under the nose of an all-seeing state.

But when a driverless car attempts to run him over, Remi soon discovers that his old life will not let him move on so easily. Someone is leaving coded messages for Remi across the city, and they seem to suggest that Martha is not dead at all.

Unsure what to believe, and increasingly unable to trust his memory, Remi is slowly drawn into the web of a dangerous radical whose ’70s sci-fi novel is now a manifesto for direct action against automation, technology, and England itself.

The deal? Remi can see Martha again – if he joins the cause.

approx. 304 pages

Out March 19, 2019

MY THOUGHTS:

I received this book in exchange for my honest review.

Well, this is definitely different. It’s a science fiction that throws a pitch against technological advancements, automation and England itself by using complicated character developments, fragmented plotting and shifting POVs that are often confusing and conflicting. Bizarre and often typical of this type of science fiction, this book reaks with audacity.

There’s some hidden truths within this book’s pages often hinting at what we could become if we’re not careful with our technological advancements. I get the cryptic messages often skimmed over and shadowed beneath strange imagery and nuances crying loudly that the contents of this story mirror a near future plausibility. I also get the warnings of catastrophic finality to human purpose should technology prevail and human virtue diminish.

There’s a mystery twisted in all this camoflauged by riotous behaviors brought on by struggles to withstand change via adherance, decorum and love, some redundant because of psycodelic cliches. Can we say Matrix? Ermmm maybe around the edges, but I’ll add not entirely so.

I suppose the book is indeed felicitous considering where our current technological advancements are at, making this more like “Westworldish.”

It was a tough read and I found myself frowning a lot and scoffing at some of the passages. However, the writing was incredible and insightful if not a bit over the top, which when science fictions, this could be a good thing.

I gave the book: