Хьюстон, 2030: Нулевой год

by Mike McKay

Роман Майка Мак-Кая "Хьюстон, 2030" – это одновременно классический полицейский детектив и научная фантастика. Дело происходит, как следует из названия, в будущем, причем не столь уж и отдаленном. Следователь ФБР занимается поисками серийного убийцы. В фантастической части романа вы не найдете ни роботов, ни летающих автомобилей, ни супер-компьютеров. Восставших из могил зомби, вирусов, убивающих человека за тридцать секунд, невероятных астероидов, ударяющихся о Землю, вулканов размером с континент, злобных пришельцев из соседней Метагалактики, и Всемирного Потопа там тоже не будет. Один потоп есть, но он не всемирный, а очень даже локальный, и к делу почти не относится. Зато: катастрофа, описанная в романе, уже началась и идет полным ходом! Мир, созданный воображением Мак-Кая, удивительно похож и одновременно не похож на современный, и при этом – правдоподобен.


Английский текст: Mike McKay, "Houston, 2030: The Year Zero", 2006-2014
Литературный перевод на русский: Михаил Якимов, 2013-2014

Genres: Peak Oil, Dystopia

ebook

First published November 4, 2014

Reviews

[Timofey Peters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Увлекательное продолжение-детектив романа о том, как закончилась за земле нефть и всё стало совсем-по-другому.

[Pbowen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about Peak Oil, and what follows it. It is not a scientific scare with bunch of graphs and equations, and not a philosophical essay on what the humankind (or your family and neighbors) should and should not be doing in the next twenty years. The author positions the book as a "Civilization Model." A close-and-personal narrative on how the life in the USA will look like after the "Peak Oil," "Peak Gas," and "Peak Everything." I find it a far better read than some of the semi-academic books on the subject.

Personally, I disagree that the events in the book can possibly happen that fast. Perhaps, the author is a bit pessimistic in calling it "Houston, 2030," and should have called it "Houston, 2040" or even "Houston, 2060." But the depletion and scarcity tendencies are extremely well-thought, and the book is very much believable.

One of the issues I have with the entire book is that in some dialogues M.McKay is using "broken English," and the book is full of invented words (e.g. <<'Fill>> - exactly as written here, with an apostrophe - for a "landfill".) Perhaps, it is a part of the vision: if everything breaks, the language also got to be broken, but sometimes does create a difficult-to-read text.

[Ptrav · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice book, but a bit on the dark side.
Not recommended to those who belive our Civilization is going to last forever.

[Eugene Krashtan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Книга очень созвучна моим ощущениям - чтобы уничтожить всю эту тоненькую пленку цивилизованности, совершенно не нужны глобальные катаклизмы. Обвал мог уже начаться вчера.

[Ptrav · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mike McKay continues his series about life in the USA in not-so-distant future. The story is a true post-apocalypse, no doubt. Fifteen years after the Oil Age, the entire planet lives in massive slums (in the USA, the slums are called, naturally, ‘obamavilles’!) The population digs the old landfills and struggles to obtain food and water. The cars are abandoned and rusting here and there. Rotting zombies roam through the deserted streets…

But wait, there are no zombies in the book! The book characters are not your typical survivalist types, dressed in jungle camo, driving 4x4 trucks over the zombies’ heads or peppering the poor living dead from all-mighty machine guns. There is not a single shot fired in the entire story. The main characters have no time to dwell on the apocalypse outcome (although they do complain once in a while.) There is a mysterious murder to be solved. Being the Houston Police officers, they must solve it, - and they will. Most importantly, they will do it in the way Sir Arthur’s Sherlock Holmes did it 150 years ago: not with some mighty machine-gun, but with some mighty deductions. Frankly, just for that the story stands head and shoulders over your typical post-apocalypse zombie chainsaw massacres.

But did I say the characters are not your survivalist types? Sorry, I am mistaken. Each one of them has survived through the Meltdown, but not by storing canned food in the basement, running for the woods, or by shooting and eating the dear neighbours. The streets of “With Proper Legwork” are far from deserted! The survivors are many, and they survive together. All characters are well-developed and likable, and the core idea of the book is cautiously-optimistic, no comparison with McCormack’s ‘The Road’ and such. We do have future. Not bright, but survivable.

Must read.

[Philip Pollack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Интересно, но не сказать, что захватывающе. Всё кругом плохо, не просто плохо, а безысходно, а герои веселятся... перечитывать не буду)

[Timofey Peters · Rating 3 out of 5]

Параллельная ветка-детектив романа «Хьюстон, 2030».