YLO

by Nicholas Clare

In a world where everyone’s biometric profiles are on record, a young policewoman turns up the an unidentifiable corpse. Jen's hands are small kid in tow, obnoxious partner and stepson, incessant office politics, her Yellow ranking to maintain, and a demanding search-and-rescue job. So the last thing ylo-Jen needs is a mystery murder victim. Worse, the case is linked to a flourishing drugs ring. And both the Priesthood and her own hierarchy are holding things back. No wonder she's got issues... This beautifully crafted novel in a dry and laconic style is a crossover between literary, sci-fi and thriller. The characters are realistic, flawed people struggling to cope with families, drugs, sexuality, religious beliefs, death and the Afterlife, and above all the rat-race... in a thoroughly unpleasant but all too believable far-future society (that yields some uncomfortable reflections on our own). Imagery and characters perhaps reminiscent of the Handmaid's Tale, Black Mirror and The the dystopian, the discomforting and the dysfunctional. Enjoy.

465 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 12, 2018

Reviews

[Nicholas Clare · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, it's my own book and so I'm naturally going to say it's great: just hoping to get others interested and I'll kill this review off once there are some real ones here! And those five stars ARE what it's been getting elsewhere so far, and the comments come from other reviews, so it's not just me.

Amyway: it's about a policewoman who is also a young mother with, struggling to cope with a range of issues in the rat-race of a future world and investigating the seeming impossibility - given that everyone's biometrics are on record - of an unidentifiable corpse.

The writing style is fairly dry and laconic, with a dinstinct touch of humour. Realistic, flawed characters rather than Hollywood-perfect people, with natural dialogue and heavy on the emotions: this is about human beings, not a tech-fest. The powerful and uncomfortable world-building is clearly set for more in the same universe. Recommended for anyone who has enjoyed The Handmaid's Tale, Black Mirror or The Bridge - the dystopian, the dicomforting and the dysfunctional.

[Nicholas Parrott · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to confess that Nicholas Clare is a friend of mine and I did a proofread of an pre-publication copy of this book. Nonetheless this is an excellent and rivetting sci-fi read, a genre that I am (no longer) a big fan of. The plot moves along at a great pace, the dystopian world that Nicholas describes is all too believable and one develops real empathy with the characters. A very good first novel. Looking forward to Nicholas's next one

[Maya Lanters-denneman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed it very much! Amazing how the author constructs the image of this intriguing future world and immensely gripping storyline.
The technical stuff sometimes a bit too technical to follow for me in English, but I get why it's there.
Looking forward to the next book in this series!