A sophisticated dystopian / conspiracy thriller which was horribly plausible. Some of it is set only a decade in the future, in which covid was followed by a haemophilia pandemic. But it’s not really about the pandemics. The focus is more on the politics and economics, as blood donations have become the currency. It’s not as graphic and gruesome as the cover suggests. However, the issues of social inequality and political corruption are starkly presented and really are no different to now.
For concepts and structure, this book scores ten out of ten. I was very impressed and hadn’t read anything like it before. The writing style was, I felt, convoluted at times and there was a lot of telling, rather than showing. I had to skim-read paragraphs quite often.
The story follows a number of characters, including two journalists from opposing sides who are investigating the mysterious implants controlling the blood dealers. The characters are emotionally compelling, their relationships and struggles astutely portrayed. Some of the chapters are set in further in the future, with different characters and locations. I couldn’t guess at all how these were linked to the other chapters. The twist was excellent!
In summary, read this book if you want something different and don’t mind a lot of political content.
Independently published in 2022.