Intrusion

by Ken MacLeod

Book Description The compelling new novel from the award-winning author of THE EXECUTION CHANNEL and THE NIGHT SESSIONS Product Description Imagine a near-future city, say London, where medical science has advanced beyond our own and a single-dose pill has been developed that, taken when pregnant, eradicates many common genetic defects from an unborn child. Hope Morrison, mother of a hyperactive four-year-old, is expecting her second child. She refuses to take The Fix, as the pill is known. This divides her family and friends and puts her and her husband in danger of imprisonment or worse. Is her decision a private matter of individual choice, or is it tantamount to willful neglect of her unborn child? A plausible and original novel with sinister echoes of 1984 and Brave New World. About the Author Since graduating from Glasgow University in 1976, Ken MacLeod has worked as a computer analyst in Edinburgh. He now writes full-time.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Dystopia, Near Future, Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Scotland

387 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2012

About the author

Ken MacLeod is an award-winning Scottish science fiction writer.

His novels have won the Prometheus Award and the BSFA award, and been nominated for the Hugo and Nebula Awards. He lives near Edinburgh, Scotland.

MacLeod graduated from Glasgow University with a degree in zoology and has worked as a computer programmer and written a masters thesis on biomechanics.

His novels often explore socialist, communist and anarchist political ideas, most particularly the variants of Trotskyism and anarcho-capitalism or extreme economic libertarianism.

Technical themes encompass singularities, divergent human cultural evolution and post-human cyborg-resurrection.

Reviews

[Rudi Landmann · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this book deeply frustrating. Like my favourite kind of science fiction, it poses some really interesting questions about technology, society, and the interaction of the two. However, as a novel, I found it absolutely wretched.

The central premise of the book is that in the near future, a pill ("the Fix") is available to pregnant women that eliminates a wide variety of genetic disorders from their unborn children. A fairly oppressive nanny-state government makes taking the Fix all but compulsory. Beyond the obvious question of should such a thing be compulsory, MacLeod ups the stakes in a couple of interesting ways: if exemptions are allowed to women who can articulate an objection (say, on the basis of religious faith), should exemption be allowed for women who have no specific objection? And what if, as well as preventing harmful genetic disorders, the pill also suppressed beneficial genetic variance as well?

In a book where all other aspects of the storytelling are secondary to the presentation of an interesting idea, I don't really expect or require characters to whom I can relate as real human beings, and Intrusion didn't give me any. Hope, the pregnant woman at the centre of the story, strongly objects to the Fix without any motivation to do so that is disclosed or implied to the reader. Even faced with government pressure to justify why she should be exempt, all she can do is cling fiercely to the claim that there's no reason she doesn't want to take the Fix. Then there are lengthy passages where Hope interacts with various other characters (a professor, a politician, an activist) and their speech resembles nothing that I can imagine human beings ever saying to each other -- the words come from undergraduate philosophy or political science papers in multi-paragraph blocks!

The stylistic artlessness is also manifest in the over-explanations common in badly-written science fiction, the classic "as you know..." infodumps where characters share facts that are—that must be—common knowledge in their world. By about half-way through the novel, I found this so gauche that I started highlighting all such occurrences just for the sheer perverse pleasure of it.

Finally, a major subplot manifests early in the novel that eventually provides the characters with understanding essential to the main plot. However, while the main plot deals with reasonably plausible, near-future technology, the subplot is weird science indeed. I found this juxtaposition really jarring, and the nature of the weird science completely superfluous to the plot anyway: the Celtic "second sight" as a product of eyes sensitive to time-travelling tachyons: but this is only in the story as an example of a beneficial mutation that the Fix would eliminate. Any remotely plausible mutation (increased cancer resistance?) would have made the point just as well and provided much less distraction.

The ideas in Intrusion are compelling and worth talking about, but to me, the primary enjoyment to be had was chuckling at the hideously clunky prose.

[Mouldy Squid · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a strange moment for me. I want to assign a high rating for this book, I want to love it and I want to tell everyone to rush out and buy a copy. But I can't do any of those things and this leaves me feeling conflicted and confused. I love Ken MacLeod books, and I do not love this one. This leads to a cognitive dissonance I seldom experience.

There is nothing egregiously wrong with Intrusion, but there is nothing wonderfully great about it either. The characters are well rounded, the plot is twisty and turny, the social and political questions raised are timely and important, the prose is up to Mr. MacLeod's usually standards. This should be an interesting book, an important book. But, instead, it is unrelentingly average.

The wonder one feels when reading The Stone Canal or the breathless excitement of Newton's Wake or the philosophical enlightenment of Learning the World are completely missing. There are no mind-bending gulfs, no shocking surprises, no society changing dilemmas. It's bland.

This should not be. The plot is deep, the questions it poses are profound, the twist is unforeseen. And yet, somehow, the whole novel is nothing much more than a tepid warning of state intrusion into personal privacy and self-determination. MacLeod is a better writer than this.

I want to love this book, I really do. It explores themes I am interested in, raises questions I think society needs to examine, I like the characters. I just can't love it and I don't really know why. At least he doesn't give away the big mystery in the prologue like he did with The Restoration Game.

Is it worth reading even if you aren't a Ken MacLeod fan? Sure. It's well written and others might find it more engaging than I have. It does present important themes that should be thought about and discussed. The premise is actually very interesting. Is it MacLeod's best novel, or even one of his better ones? No. If you are looking for a The Night Sessions or a Cassini Division you will be disappointed.

[Gem · Rating 1 out of 5]

I actually got my biro pen and started editing this book at one point, it was that awful. The female characters are flat, forced and uninspiring, and they seem mostly irrational.

Half of the text could have been missed out as it was just filler, the dialogue was terrible ("Man!" Said Bernard.) - there was so much rambling going on. I read 115 pages and still nothing had happened. When something exciting finally did happen it felt really out of place and unjustified.

I really like dystopian thrillers and I was looking forward to reading this one. It was money wasted unfortunately as I couldn't finish it.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story set in the near future - a world transformed by bio-tech and computing power but subject in the free world to a high level of police surveillance and control. Individual rights (e.g. women's rights) have been subsumed into the rights of society to make the right choices for people (with in particular control of pregnancy and even pre-pregnancy effectively turning women back into domestic slaves with intrusive monitoring of their health and lifestyle choices) and free market doctrines replaced by a doctrine of society deciding the choice people would make if they were fully informed and acting rationally.

Hope is pregnant with her second child and (as with the first) refuses to take the fix, a pill which effectively corrects any genetic defects in a baby including conferring immunity from most infections. A recent legal case means that this, without a faith objection which the militantly atheist Hope refuses to claim, is close to illegal. Her case is taken up by a journalist and social campaigner and this starts to trigger police surveillance and this together with her refusal to take the fix (but never explicitly due to that) leads her to fear she will be declared an unfit mother and flee with her husband to his Scottish Island home. Her husband (and his father and their young son) all have a form of second sight which over the story seems to be linked with some form of tachyon particles travelling back in time to which they are genetically disposed to be sensitive.

The family are pursued by police and nearly escape into a strange parallel (or more likely future) world her husband saw as a boy - he decides not to flee to it (not least as Hope can't see it) but does thrown an illegal gun he has there - possession of this has he and Hope arrested and interrogated on terrorism charges, only to be released when his father discovers the gun in his house, presumably having retrieved it from the other land.

In many ways a very interesting story - with an interesting take on a logical extension of a combination of Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness policies and a convincing geo-political future. It also conveys very well what happens when ordinary people get caught up in anti-terrorist actions and the police state. The second sight story line becomes increasingly dominant and largely ruins the story and there are some crucial illogicalities (why was his father not monitored when he retrieved the gun and most crucially why in the future world is reproduction not asexual or at least artificially engendered).

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this British dystopia of the liberal nanny state. It's so refreshing to read a thoughtful, creative dystopia that does what good SF does best: extrapolates current social trends to their extreme. In future Britain, women's bodies are tightly regulated so as to prevent any harm to future children, but in a way that seems perfectly normal, rational, and egalitarian (Handmaid's Tale this is not). When one average woman decides that, for no apparent reason, she doesn't want to take the "fix" -- a pill that cures all genetic imperfections in utero-- she runs afoul of the welfare state, local politics, and many of her peers. Domestic drones and surveillance run large, but somehow the world doesn't feel spooky or terrifying.. more like humdrum. Which is even more frightening. I haven't been able to stop thinking about this book since reading it two weeks ago, which is the mark of a great dystopic novel. Recommended.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was really impressed with 'Intrusion'. The near-future setting was excellently drawn and extremely thought-provoking. On the one hand, I found the casual loss of civil liberties and oppressive state protectiveness towards women and children convincing. On the other hand, I had the horrible feeling that this was the best case scenario; it felt like a legacy of Blair and Brown, not of the Coalition's assault on the NHS. (Indeed the government in confirmed to be Labour-led.) Although 'Intrusion' reads like a dystopian narrative, it also evokes a stable UK with a social safety net and free healthcare. A worse scenario would retain the unrelenting government surveillance and perpetual war on terrorism, whilst public services are shredded by 'free' markets. Moreover, the world of 'Intrusion' has clearly got to grips with climate change, largely using GM organisms and carpeting the Sahara desert with solar panels. On these bases, it looks bad but a lot better than the future that the UK is actually heading for.

So this novel made me confront my own ambivalence; is the total sacrifice of civil liberties inevitable in order to address climate change? Have we left it so late to reduce emissions that the only remotely effective policies would have to be enforced by an oppressive state? Moreover, would you prefer to have your privacy invaded and liberty curtailed on the basis of state welfarism or market forces? And that old favourite: to what extent does material comfort compensate for loss of privacy and freedom? To what extent do we even notice the loss of something as ill-defined as freedom? The 21st century UK of CCTV and PRISM et al has shambled carelessly into a 1984-style surveillance society, but is it worth worrying about?

The wonderful thing about 'Intrusion' is that it has no easy answers whatsoever. At various points, characters discuss their angles on civil liberty, based on theory (nice name-checking of Foucault, for example) and experience (of police profiling especially), but never come to firm conclusions. This of course rings much truer than such discussions leading to absolute agreement on a clear answer - who has ever had that experience? I also found the feeling of individual helplessness in the face of monolithic institutions and their procedures viscerally convincing. 'Intrusion' reminded me the extent to which technology exacerbates this helplessness. A government algorithm finds some pattern in your movements and net use, automatically tagging you as suspect. How does one argue with that? Is it better or worse than human civil servants arbitrarily suspecting groups of people, for their behaviour or some other characteristic, such as ethnicity? Naturally, algorithms are ultimately written and controlled by humans, so have no inherent independence, let alone objectivity. Perhaps, though, they foster the development of that dangerous mindset of deferring individual judgement, "I was just doing my job", which has led to so many atrocities in the past.

Wow, I'm three paragraphs in without making any reference to what 'Intrusion' is actually about. Briefly, a family in near future London are expecting a second child. The mother, named Hope, doesn't wish to take 'the fix', a GM medicine that corrects various potential genetic defects in a foetus. She cannot articulate why she refuses this even to herself, incurring a mixture of suspicion, anger, and bafflement. The small act, of refusing to take a pill that isn't even technically compulsory, triggers a fascinating escalation of events. Whilst I was very invested in the fate of Hope and her family, the wider implications and bigger questions raised by the story made it exceptional. For instance, issues around the future of feminism, the intersection of women's rights and children's rights, and bodily autonomy.

There are many other issues I could mention (the role of science in politics! the nature of criticism!). Rather than rambling further, though, I'll conclude by noting that it is a timely, subtle, well-written, and intelligent novel. I highly recommend it, especially if you feel stifled by the slew of ephemeral news headlines and want to contemplate the implications of trends in 21st century society in more depth.

(Unrelated footnote: I would have lost this entire review by inadvertent clicking, were it not for the Lazarus extension for chrome. SO glad I installed that.)

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve seen some SF novels described as being ‘cosy catastrophes’, I think Intrusion could be described by a related term, ‘cosy dystopia’. The world the characters live in (a near future Britain) is superficially pleasant and at the start of the novel they’d probably say they were genuinely content with their life, but despite that this is clearly a dystopian novel. One of the effective parts of the book is how Hope Morrison’s life gradually falls apart and her discontent grows with the world she lives in, all beginning with a single small act of rebellion where she refuses to take a pill while pregnant that would cause her child to grow up genetically immune to most diseases. Many of the other characters in the book are frustrated with her inability to explain why she’s refusing to take the pill, and even in her internal narrative she doesn’t seem to be doing it out of any deeply held conviction. I’ve read some of the other reviews of the book and many readers seem equally frustrated by her actions but I think they do make sense, it is perhaps irrational but I think her refusal is clearly an expression of her frustration about not being given any choice in how to live her life.

I think in most ways the portrayal of the dystopia is effective, in terms of showing how oppressive even a generally benevolent society can be against those who transgress against its norms. One thing that works well is that it doesn’t take the easy option of having some sinister conspiracy to be uncovered, it’s a portrayal of a society that does things varying from frustrating to horrific while all the team believing it is acting in the best interests of its people. The society does to be an intentional exaggeration of modern society, some elements can feel a bit caricatured but it works well enough as satire even if it sometimes struggles to be plausible enough to be taken entirely seriously.

Perhaps the oddest feature of the novel is the mix between the fairly mundane near-future setting and one of the major plotlines in which Hope’s husband is revealed to have vivid visions of an alternate or future society, the two plotlines coming together when he takes his family back to his childhood home on the Isle of Lewis (it wouldn’t be a Ken MacLeod book without at least one visit to Scotland). It’s a reasonably interesting plotline but it feels a bit fantastical and out of step with the rest of the novel. It does all end up with a fairly satisfying ending, although there are probably a few subplots along the way which maybe didn’t add much to the novel.

MacLeod’s writing has always been easy to read and this is no exception (aside from the occasional lecture on political philosophy). Hope and her husband are both interesting and complex characters, and I think the fact they would sometimes struggle to explain why they’re doing what they are doing is actually fairly realistic. Some of the supporting characters feel a bit simplistic and only there to deliver a particular viewpoint, but I think the lead characters have enough depth to make up for that.

Intrusion is a slightly difficult book to rate because it has plenty of interesting ideas, does some things well, but ultimately seems to fall short of being as good as it could have been – something it has in common with MacLeod’s previous few books. I wouldn’t say it is entirely a success but I think there’s enough done well for it to be worth reading.

[Tamara]

I keep reading and reasonably enjoying Ken MacLeod's books, and i'm not entirely sure why. This one starts out with a really intriguing social-sf question - should a woman have to take a simple pill, with no side effects, to make sure her unborn child is healthy - and degenerates into (totally unrelated to the question) silly science subplots, ideological wankery and lame thriller-lite evil-government shenanigans. That said, I still think it's a step up from his recent books - the characterization is better, the pace is spot on and and it doesn't completely dissolve in terms of plot and theme.

Unfortunately, theres just too many...potshots. The "opposition" are ridiculous caricatures and the whole thing appears to be based on a slippery slope argument, (laws against smoking in pubs>get hauled in by the police for going into a building someone smoked in once while pregnant.) The ideological questions get explained instead of actually being expressed in the book (characters sit around telling each other about Foucalt,) and everything has to be an extension of a current political process in a neat way "...her mother's generation, in a moment of frivolity, had surrendered feminism..." THIS IS YOU, LADY, YOU FOLLOW?!) And theres that now frankly disturbing fetish for the Labour Party again, (you should get that looked at, Mr. MacLeod), though at least they're evil in this one.

It's a shame, as theres a really, really interesting book buried somewhere in here, about the tug between individual freedom and social contract, about women and women's bodies, about the construction of religion and ideology and the way individuals function and make decisions in that...it just got lost somewhere, to wander amongst the tachyons, time travelers and torturers of the Outer Hebrides instead.

Oh, and it's not actually clear if Scotland is independent.

[Liz · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'd never read or heard of McLeod before, but the back of the book sounded interesting. However, it was let down majorly by the writing style. Why do I care about the name of every street in Acton? I live locally so recognise town names such as Ealing/Hayes/Uxbridge but can't imagine how boring that is to someone unfamiliar to the area. And don't get me started on the endless Scottish landscape descriptions most of which I ended up skimming over. The two halves of the plot took too long to meet and I ended up bored with Hugh's childhood. There was little character development and actually little character at all. Plus I found the dystopia too extreme and past my point of "suspended belief". Would not read another book by this author.

[Liam Proven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ken Macleod has been moving his SF from far future tales spanning distant star systems to colder, more rationally-extrapolated near-future visions of distinctly worryingly plausible futures. Intrusion features perhaps his most minimally-different future yet: a Britain of ubiquitous surveillance, extreme policing and enforced conformity done with the best possible taste. No Orwellian dystopias here: Macleod is almost infinitely cleverer and more believable, not to mention being far better SF.

Intrusion hearkens to a classic SF short, where aliens offer a true miracle drug: a small, painless skin patch that cures all disease. But what is a disease? For the aliens, this includes intelligence. Macleod doesn't spell out exactly what his cure might fix – it could be as little as slightly superior sight. But as is often the way with Ken, what he merely hints at is far, far bigger.

Instrusion gave me both the willies as well as making me want to visit the Scottish isles (as I write from Sodor and Mann). To both beguile and terrify far more than any monster or disease in a single, by modern standards slim tome is quite a trick. It's excellent. I do miss the space-squid, though.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A disturbing, near future dystopian vision of Britain that is frighteningly plausible.

Besides the central premise, there are many other extrapolations arising from society as we know it to construct something that, taken as a whole, paints quite a worrying picture of our future. There are several parallels with George Orwell's "1984" although this story presents a far more subtler mechanism of control, and one no doubt more relevant to today's readers. What we have here is a "nanny state" tyranny, one that is attempting to preserve the illusion of freedom whilst being completely intolerant of dissent.

While I found all this fascinating, the side of the story that looked at Hugh's visions of the past/future somewhat of an unwanted distraction from the main premise.

An essential read for anyone interested in modern political/social issues.

[Tudor Ciocarlie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant stuff! I'm love stories in which a democratic society "evolves" into a dystopian one. This is a very disturbing near future, in the tradition of 1984, but with some very interesting science-fictional twists and with some very real and plausible future technological trends. Alongside Paul McAuley's In the Mouth of the Whale, this novel is the best of 2012 so far.

[Meagan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Technically I didn't finish because I got to the part where it casually mentions that she took the fix and decided this book was absolute shit.

[Sayra · Rating 1 out of 5]

Got annoyed and bored (great combination) and decided I had better things to do that read any more.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this in one sick day, because I couldn't put it down. The way a society slides into total control felt sickeningly believable, and the contrast between the "free"--yet heavily regulated--world and the "other side" is something I've been discussing with people for years. I found the other SF plot of this intriguing and wish it had been allowed to go further.

[Michael Pryor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Serious, ominous, dark.

[Sandra "Jeanz" · Rating 4 out of 5]

MY REVIEW
I requested and gratefully received this paperback from Orbit Books with the intention of reading and reviewing giving you my honest opinion.
So I’ll start with the cover which did initially attract me to the book. It shows a spoon holding a rather “normal” looking somewhat inoffensive tablet. Upon reading the book you find out the tablet is called “The Fix” in simple, basic terms it is a tablet all pregnant women are encouraged and somewhat expected to take. The Fix claims to literally fix any genetic defects whilst the baby is in the womb. The title on the cover is in an attention grabbing red and its name of Intrusion totally fits the book when you read it. The authors name is in the same font but black which fits in with what I see as a clinical feel about the cover.
There is also a quote from Iain M Bank, “A twistedly clever, frighteningly plausible dystopian glimpse” I totally agree with Iain M Banks description of the book, but I don’t like the quote being on the front cover! The cover would remain so much more clinical and striking without that quote! The quote should in my opinion be on the back cover of the book, with the quote by Cory Doctrow and the Guardian. It is one of my pet hates, quotes marring the beauty of a front cover, a by-line yes, a quote from another Author or reader no!
So now onto the book, as Iain M Bank says, the book has a twisted quality to it. I think it very representative of the increasingly present “big brother” society we are living in. This book and what happens in it re so realistically told that it isn’t a large leap to think it could really happen in the not too distant future. I mean who knows what types of medication the scientists are developing.
The book tell the story of Hugh Morrison and his pregnant wife Hope. Hope doesn’t want to take “The Fix” for no other reason really other than she just doesn’t want to, she doesn’t feel the need, her first son Nick who is fit and healthy was not subjected to The Fix in her womb so why should this pregnancy and baby be any different. Also I think like most women hope doesn’t like to feel she is being told what she must do. So when the health visitor brings up her reluctance to take “The Fix” Hope explains her feelings. Bad, bad, move because now she is flagged up in the “system” as an “objector” and “troublemaker”. There are legitimate ways to “get out” of taking “The Fix” you can object on religious grounds, some people do this even though they aren’t really religious but Hope is principled and really doesn’t see that as an option.
The society in this book is quite different too, it’s sort of set in the future somewhat, its all very “big brother” is watching you, with cameras in your home watching you as well as in the workplace and on the streets. If you mix with people considered by the police/government to be unsavoury, or take off your monitor ring (if you are a woman & pregnant) that lets the health service know you have “been exposed” to smoking or alcohol etc.
For those few who dare to be different and perhaps even rebel a little they can be picked up and harassed. There’s an incident in the book when a young professional woman is picked up by the police and interrogated because she has looked at a wall and seen the same piece of graffiti twice and not reported it! The poor woman is traumatised but too discouraged by the way the system works to even complain.
There’s lots of new gadgets and ways of society in this book, but the weirs/strange thing is that I could really believe some of it actually happening.
The other aspect of the book is Hugh’s family coming from a small Island surrounded by mystery, and suspicion and strange tales. Hugh’s family are somewhat “different” as they have gene that allows “second sight” could this be a valid reason not to take “The Fix”
The book also deals with other people’s reactions to Hope and her impending decision.
So what did I think to the book? Well it was rather wordy! (bit like my review)political and I suppose you could say controversial, at times some of the political stuff seemed to drag a little. Having said that I did really enjoy the book. The whole “second sight” issue part of the book was at times confusing, and not really explored as much as I would have liked. I was also a little disappointed in the ending, all that Hope had gone through . . . . and then for things to end as they did.
So did I enjoy the book? Yes! On the whole I did. Would I recommend the book? To a patient reader who loves debate and dystopian too, yes. Would I read more by Ken Macleod? Maybe.

[Simon Mcleish · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review first appeared on my blog here.

Ken MacLeod is an author whose work I sometimes really like (the Star Faction books) but who at other times doesn't really connect with me (the Engines of Light trilogy). Intrusion falls into the second category.

It is one of several recent novels by MacLeod which are stand-alone near future dystopias, rather like the series of similar works produced by John Brunner in the 1970s. There are two main elements to Intrusion: an encroaching "nanny state", particularly concerned to make people live more and more healthy lifestyles; and the moral and social consequences of advances in genetic engineering.

These are given a human aspect through the central character, a pregnant woman who refuses to take "the fix", a pill which sorts out an embryo's genetic abnormalities. Although this refusal is not a crime, Hope is unwilling even to discuss the reasons behind her decision, and this makes her a person of interest to the police - rather in the way that attending a mosque seems to do in the West today. The issues soon become muddled, as the plot development is based on the possibility that Hope's husband might have the second sight, and this begins to take prominence over the elements which were important at the beginning.

My problem with this is that the second sight, by its nature more fantastical than the otherwise realistic seeming near future setting of the novel, just doesn't fit in to Intrusion. It feels like a device used to push the plot forward, without being integrated into the action in a meaningful way. It is given a pseudo-scientific explanation, but one with some pretty obvious holes in it to my mind.

In other areas, too, it feels that there is a certain laziness to the construction of Intrusion, as evidenced by the name of the protagonist. This may be intended to be an ironic gesture, but is neither so outrageously obvious to be fun (as Hiro Protagonist is in Snow Crash), nor sufficiently understated to be interesting.

The subject touches on issues at the very basis of how humans live in social groups. To do so necessitates giving up some individual freedom for the good of the group; the question is, where does the line between individual and state lie? Since the answer to this question differs radically from person to person, culture to culture, and subject to subject, it is not one which can be discussed in depth in a single book - indeed, I think it could be argued that the whole of political theory, and much of sociology and anthropology, deals with ways in which this question can be answered. So it is not surprising that even the relatively limited scope of the discussion in Intrusion merely scratches the surface of what might be said about health care and the government, but I did feel that more could be said - Intrusion seems to be more a statement of a fixed position (essentially, that Hope should have the right to refuse if she so wishes), than an analysis or a treatment in which the plot involves a developing portrayal of the issues. Brunner's dystopias were mainly about attempts to change society (or, more specifically, attempts to reform society to ameliorate problems caused by undirected sociological development), and this makes them much more satisfying if more depressing than this novel.

All in all, an unsatisfying novel which never really gripped my attention.

[Dark Matter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This and more reviews, interviews etc on Dark Matter Zine, an online magazine. http://www.darkmatterzine.com. This review was written by Nalini Haynes for Dark Matter Zine.

Hope and Hugh Morrison are expecting their second child. This is the second time Hope has refused ‘the fix’, a magic bullet that cures all genetic abnormalities while immunising the foetus against many childhood illnesses.

In this Brave New World overtly referencing 1984, a father sued his wife forcing her to take the fix because his wife had no acceptable justification for a conscientious objection. This precedent allows social services to pressure women –possibly force women – to take the fix unless they have a religious justification for refusal.

Hope posts her concerns to a parenting forum. The next day when Hope arrives at nursery school to drop her son Nick off, Hope is blocked by angry parents. These are parents of ‘faith kids’, other children whose mothers have not taken the fix, but they are angry that Hope would put their children at risk of infection.

The hypocrisy would be unbelievable if I hadn’t seen this kind of outrageous judgementalism in real life:

‘You’re not really disabled because you can pass for normal’
‘You’re not really bisexual because you have a partner of the opposite gender’
‘You’re not really a lesbian because you’re a transsexual (formerly a man)’
And so on. My studies have been enlightening [ironic tone].

Intrusion explores potential development of current social dynamics. Everything from the pointlessness of some academic research to racial profiling; from police state victimisation to wilful ignorance or collusion leading to impending disaster.

My only criticism of Intrusion is MacLeod’s attempt to justify second sight – usually a feature of fantasy – by introducing tachyons. Human perception of tachyons, particles that are supposed to travel backwards in time, do not account for sound and smell crossing the time barrier. Nor would tachyons account for a future human seeing into his distant past and talking to someone in that past.

Reference to Tir Na Og, a Gaelic land of the fae, also pushes what could otherwise be a strong science fiction novel into the realm of fantasy. If Intrusion had been written by a woman it would have been classified as fantasy; because Intrusion was written by a man, he gets away with fantasy elements.

Rant aside, Intrusion is an interesting story with chilling observations about human nature and where UK (and Australian) societies could be headed as citizens cede individual autonomy to government control. I’d prefer the science to be tighter but the characters’ engagement with issues confronting them are well worth the read.

Intrusion is an interesting novel to engage a book discussion group.

I need to add: ‘YAY for a dystopian novel that isn’t aimed at the YA market!’ Intrusion has adults dealing with adult issues, a refreshing change.

[Anne Charnock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ken MacLeod presents a vision of a near-future world in which many of our freedoms are rolled back in the cause of child protection, specifically the protection of the unborn foetus. For starters, smoking and drinking are illegal in pregnancy. Employers must prove their workplaces pose zero risk to pregnant women and as a result many women (pregnant or otherwise) operate from home where the legal restrictions are looser. And then there’s ‘the fix’ – single-dose medication (produced by SynBioTech) that women are obliged to take during pregnancy to mend any dodgy sections of DNA.

But Hope Morrison, a resident of Islington in North London, didn’t take the fix before her son Nick was born, and she doesn’t want to take it now that she’s pregnant again. Her husband Hugh, brought up on Scotland’s Isle of Lewis, is willing to go along with her wishes. However, the health service is becoming more dogmatic. Doctors and health visitors are willing to compile surveillance evidence from other sources to threaten Hope. Her occasional contacts with supposed troublemakers are nudging Hope’s data profile towards a tipping point – one that would label her as unsuitable for parenting.

The authorities are also using the threat of terrorism as the validation for widespread surveillance. It all adds up to a situation where a citizen’s every move, every contact, every minor infringement is known to the police. Police stop-and-search is extended to stop-and-torture, followed by free trauma counselling. Hmm…

Events spiral out of control and the Morrison family retreats to the Isle of Lewis. Early in the novel, we learn that Hugh – along with other people on the isle – experiences second-sight. And this adds a second thread to MacLeod’s tale.

MacLeod doesn’t talk down to his readers; he expects them to keep up with his excursions into genetics, and the specific research interests of Geena, a post-doc student operating within SynBioTech.

It’s a chilling and cautionary dystopian tale that deals primarily with the topical issue of surveillance. And it will appeal to anyone who fights against the health and safety culture.

I have some issues with the novel. I am uncomfortable with the mix of straightforward dystopian fiction with fantasy. Hugh’s second-sight takes the reader into the realm of fantasy and it sits awkwardly within the novel.

Some of the writing is decidedly lumpy. I had to re-read many sentences before I could grasp their sense.

And at the start of Intrusion I feel Ken MacLeod throws too much back-story at the reader. Not subtle.

[Jani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intrusion is a fine example of how fiction can bring philosophical debates closer to home. It takes the ethical debates about the possibilities of biotechnology choosing their most affecting parts (what about the children?!?) and crafts them into a dystopian vision.

In the world where Hope and Hugh live genetic engineering has found way to remove almost all of the childhood ailments in a simple gene-altering pill form. Hope is tempted by its possibilities but would choose not to take it nevertheless. However, in the nurturing society she lives in taking such risks with the offspring are barely tolerated and she finds herself under pressure to change the genetic makeup of her future child. Will she keep her head or will her hand be forced either to taking the pill or to another just as drastic action.

MacLeod's novel's main struggle is between the individual choice and the role of the society. Most of the time, the novel suggested reading sides with the individual; the society is portrayed as well-meaning yet oppressive in its insistence to come between individual and his/her choice. As MacLeod does not bring the big corporations, another usual oppressive force using technology wrong (and usually more nefariously) into the story, the society is painted quite black even if many of its actors are not evil as such. Then again none of the characters or actors are represented by pure white tones; while the novel emphasizes certain aspects, it leaves enough shades to get the reader thinking from different angles. While these layers are few compared to the whole ethical debate around biotechnology, they flesh out some of the questions raised in an accessible form, although, in a form that should not be swallowed without chewing.

[Gerhard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ken MacLeod may have moved away from the SF novels of his earlier career to (more lucrative?) mainstream techno thrillers, but his interest in politics and sociology remains as urgent as ever. This makes Intrusion a superb example of extrapolative SF, a sort of 1984 for the modern world.

Except in this extrapolation of 1984, everyone is fed, schooled, employed and safe; all the infrastructure necessary for civilisation is in place. And what culminated in the institutionalisation of the ultimate police state? Why, that old bugbear, political correctness, of course.

There is a lot of angry humour in this novel, which is typical of MacLeod. A problem with this sort of polemical novel is that the characters can simply become different viewpoints, but Macleod is careful enough to make Hugh and Hope a viable enough family that their plight is genuinely moving.

Intriguingly, the description of the Scottish countryside reveals another facet to MacLeod, as a nature writer. A lot of reviews have complained about these sections; I thought them a welcome addition to the fascinating descriptions of the future London urbanscape.

MacLeod is at pains to make his near-future scenario feel as lived-in as possible, which means that Intrusion is crammed with projections, scenarios and really cool technology and ideas. A fantastic novel from one of the genre’s most committed political theorists.

[Mark Harding · Rating 4 out of 5]

Generally, I prefer KM’s space operas to his techno-thriller type novels but this one really hits the nail on the head. Generally, I hate books that make me frustrated and angry but this one does it for a purpose that justifies the agro. A deep insight into the relationship between government and the public, and KM makes you experience the issues, and feel them.

Truly brilliant ending which puts a new focus on all the preceding events in the novel. I also like how seemingly disparate characters and events are all part of the same trap — and how the characters appear to react differently, but actually have the same response. (It’s a bit like Catch 22, only the trap isn’t Catch 22.) This should be enforced reading for all politicians and should be on the reading list of all politics courses.

[Kristi Priestley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is seriously addictive! A future world where pregnant women must take a "fix" to protect their children from genetic diseases, and you are always being watched. Hugh and Hope have made the decision to not take "the fix", but this isn't easy when you don't have a religion to hide behind as an excuse. On the run from the authorities, and trying to cover the tracks of their digital footprint, this makes for a thrilling read.

This book particularly appealed to me because it has a lot of very accurate, intriguing science references, which I really enjoyed the chance to geek-out to!

I couldn't put this book down, and when I really had to, was itching to pick it back up again! This has been my first taste of SciFi for a while, and it was a great entrance back in, because I am going to be looking out for many more in the near future. Would thoroughly recommend!

[Bo'ness Library Bookgroup · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only two of the group really enjoyed this novel, three people didn't finish it, while most of us were disappointed, as we thought that the blurb had made it sound better than it actually was. To be fair, most of us tend not to read science fiction (or hard science fiction as this is classed), though we thought that it was an intriguing concept, and all too plausible with the prevalence of cctv, the introduction of self-drive cars, and the pressure on parents to have their children vaccinated. We were put off by the scientific explanations but warmed to the characters during the second half of the book from the flight to Lewis to the end. Despite us not being all that keen, we did have a wide-ranging discussion about medical ethics and civil liberties, etc.

[Dr Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disturbingly real socialist dystopia, hinting at Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, with genetic technology update, drones patrolling private lives.
Mostly pessimistic as the protagonist, Hope, refuses to take a pill that will eradicate genetic defects from her baby's foetus. The intrusion, pressure and fear factor leads her to take the pill (fix) at the end of the novel. It is her husband Hugh, however, who hosts a genetic variant who promises a new and different future for mankind. Hope's already born Son, Nick, also harbours the gene. The unborn child will be neutralised by the fix (pill) she decides to take, but ironically, hope for the future lies with her husband and child.

[Jason Bleckly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intrusion by Ken MacLeod (2012)
You know how the covers of books often have the title and then underneath ‘A Novel’, just in case people hadn’t realised. Well, this book should read ‘Intrusion. A cautionary tale, not an instruction manual.’

This book is brilliant. With each book I read from Ken he takes another step towards replacing Gregory Benford as my all time favourite author ever. There are only 4 novels of his I haven’t read and I now have to pace myself as he doesn’t produce new ones all that often.

The book. The cover features a pill resting in a spoon. The pill is at the heart of the story, but also almost irrelevant to the story. This is classic WHAT IF science fiction. The back cover blurb begins:
Imagine a near-future London where advances in medical science have led to the development of a pill which can eradicate genetic defects from an unborn-baby.

That is the WHAT IF pivot around which the story takes place. This is sociological SF looking at how society would react in this situation. It looks at concepts of free choice versus social responsibility, religious freedom versus medical considerations. It touches on anti-vaccination arguments vs child welfare. The rights of a mother versus the rights of unborn children. Pro-life and abortion are only very briefly mentioned. I was surprised to find eugenics wasn’t mentioned at all. And this is all set against a ‘warm war’ of heightened state security, total surveillance, and race based paranoia.

But it’s not all depressing. There is also humour, albeit a caustic humour, such as this little excerpt.
The question of what institutional and economic and political interests actually benefited from social science research into science was itself a small but thriving area of social science research, and the question of who benefited from that research was a smaller area still. The one researcher who had taken the next logical step and investigated who benefited from research into research into research into research had concluded that the only beneficiary of his research was himself, a result so significant that its publication had ensured him a professorship at the University of Edinburgh.

It is also something of a love letter or the Scottish countryside. There’s a couple of places where the story virtually stops for a long description of the countryside, it’s almost travelogue. But the writing is so evocative that it didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the story.

This isn’t even everything covered in the book. I can’t think of a way to describe the main story elements without spoilers, so I’ll just say it’s more interesting than everything mentioned above.

This is Catch 22 as a contemporary dystopian nightmare, that’s for your own good.

[Grim Tidings · Rating 1 out of 5]

A charmless read. There was a plot that straggled along but it was not interesting enough by itself, and the writing was quite poor. Technically speaking there was nothing wrong with it, but there was just none of the je ne sais quoi that makes prose compelling. It felt very instruction manual, almost AI-like in its straightforwardness. I didn't feel like the author knew what to keep in and leave in; we are bored with the tedium of the characters' daily lives and the interesting/intense moments skip by.

I didn't care for a single of the characters - they were all boring in their unique way, the worst case being Hope (such obvious naming made me feel I was reading a Dickens novel). I suppose as the hero of the novel is the everyday woman-turned-activist in the effort to protect her rights, her ordinariness was necessary, but it didn't make for compelling reading. I didn't even relate to her particularly. She is opposed to taking the pill and feels she doesn't have to justify that as it's her body- fine. Given how other characters treat her as a unique case though, it seemed unlikely to me that she and almost she alone would take this moral stance given she didn't really express strong views about anything else.

Also, what was all that about joining the Labour party? Even though Hope soon leaves and critiques are made of the party, I started to feel I'd wandered into a Guardian column instead of a novel. In fact the whole book reads like one, basically, and maybe that's the problem. We are taken through a surface-level whistlestop of various topics, religion, police authoritarianism, etc., but it's either dealt with too flatly (characters literally just debating amongst themselves over dinner - fascinating stuff) or too bluntly ( evil police arrest pregnant woman and accuse her of terrorism ).

The sci-fi elements were fine - goggles you can access the internet with, advanced AI, driverless cars, casual & accepted 24/7 surveillance. Typical sci-fi features and handled well enough. The centre of the novel's dilemma, the pill which genetically alters a child's DNA, has been done before but it's never an unwelcome topic.

In all, a difficult and long read, quite tedious, with very little of substance to chew over.

[simon crossley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intrusion is a meditation on a near future where life is regulated with a high level of morality and ethics. Extrapolated ideas on what that may look like a quite restrained with the occasional AI toy and truck. The main debate centres on a medical “fix” for pregnant women and their forthcoming child. The conversations with the medical worker are necessarily disturbing on how people are expected to do the right thing or face the consequences. Black Mirror has explored multiple variations on this theme – the future looks bleak for libertarians.

The plot thickens in a sinister way in how the mother has all her actions monitored and then mopped up into a pattern of behaviour we have come to term “domestic terrorist.” This is the intrusion that is already creeping into our UK society with the high level of CCTV coverage, and digitalisation of records and transactions including in the cloud. Big data knows what we will do next.

It’s probably more accurate to define this novel’s position as a warning of dystopian creep rather than liberalism.

Where the story is on fuzzier ground is the other plot around the father’s inherited gift of seeing in to the near future – tachyon - with an over reliance on hard science that masks how weak it is written into the novel – there is no real sense of why it mattered and what difference it made to daily lives, plus it muddled the other argument about the fact the mother simply wanted the right to choose.

Interactions with the MP, Maya and Geena are lightly written, like the book itself, and failed to grip me with a sense of a full journey to take on the state.

Finally, this becomes a personal journey as Ken MacLeod takes us back to his home in Lewis Scotland. It was just that and I could have easily been taken to Yorkshire or Wales. The escape to Scotland falls flat on its face as they are all too easily (and how?) so why do it?

[Caya · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story reminds me of 1984. It's not that dark and hopeless like story of Winston, but it describes world which isn't one I would be comfortable to live. (Sadly current EU is becoming exactly this world.) Ubiquitous surveillance, almost all personal data accessible to almost anyone, society kept in check with basicly the same strawmen we have now, social control accepted as norm. The world author depicts is worryingly realistic and doesn't seem like far future.

Reason it reminds me of 1984 is because normal people who just want to get through the day and keep their spine straight are set on spiral that leads to inevitable climax of being confronted with government; her being threatened with losing both born and unborn child, him being "gitmo-ed" for mere possession of air-gun which isn't found at first. All the events are well paced and the threat of consequences of not complying is very very subtle to the point reader might feel it's all just pretext for something else.

Epilogue just goes along with 1984 as well: she submits to the "demand of society" and world is rainbows and unicorns again.

Although the story is sci-fi it's more social drama set in near future. Not entirely my cup of tea and knowing the plot I wouldn't have likely put my hands on the book. It's good, well written story but at some point gives me goose bumps. For same reason I've never read 1984 again...