CareLess

by Stephen West

In a world where there are not enough resources to go around, the newly formed island state of New England has to confront a question it can no longer ignore. What are we going to do with all the old people now we can’t afford to look after them anymore? The new government, a cross-party compromise called The People’s Coalition, responds by introducing a programme of demographic rebalancing, incorporating the voluntary euthanasia of all people over eighty-years-old. When the number volunteering is deemed inadequate, the Coalition introduces new measures to increase the take-up. As a result, the young are pitted against the old in a populist war which, if left unchecked, will result in the slaughter of a whole generation. Marnie Johansson, an executive of the Danish company integral in the original rebalancing programme, thinks she knows how to stop the carnage. But will she be able to save her family before the past catches up with her? And how will she reason with a world where the only people not dying are the ones doing the killing.

336 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 2, 2019