The Malaise

Turton’s flimsy debut sketches an implausible zombie apocalypse and what comes after. The world in 2038 runs on RazorVision, the next iteration of advertising-fueled technological innovation. It’s controlled by its charismatic (but “modest and shy”) inventor, Rick Razor. Prof. Mike Pilkington, star intellect of Windermere University, thinks this is great until 2.1 billion people view one psychedelic video on the network and society explodes in mindless murder/suicide. Many who don’t die are left in a “feral and miserable altered state.” A handful of survivors, including Mike and his infant daughter, gather in New Windermere; it seems no one else is left. A mash-up of Swiss Family Robinson and Ayn Rand ensues as Mike and his mostly white compatriots recapitulate 1950s social and political structures; they only seek out other people 16 years later, a search leading them to predictable answers about the video’s source. A dearth of research, or even common sense, pervades the thin worldbuilding. For example, Cassie Cuthbert—a mother of four and physical education teacher in a tiny enclave where everyone must exert maximum effort to survive—has “rippling muscles,” but this is credited not to her incredible workload but to a “daily exercise routine in the gym.” The horror aspect is enthusiastically gory, but there’s little emotional punch in this tissue-thin scenario. (Dec.)