Simeon

by Nick Carlson

When Diana - an American defector to the Soviet Union - blows up her own platoon in an act of terroristic defiance, she finds herself shuttled to a secret military laboratory deep in the Siberian tundra. There she melds with its community of workers and finds herself at the mercy of shady Director Ivanov's bizarre and restrictive policies. Their experiment is a crossbred hybrid of man and ape, reared to be the ultimate soldier. But as a mysterious delusion passes among the workforce, and as friends and enemies succumb to the madness, Diana uncovers an existential corruption; not just in what she believes, but in the human condition itself.

300 pages, Paperback

Published February 1, 2020

Reviews

[Sam Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting social commentary on how a supposedly “perfect” system and policy can lead to chaos and bloodshed. The tragic effects of this are what happens to the main character as she loses her friends, her family, and eventually, her life. All of the other characters are very fleshed out as well, and have interesting backstories, and reasons for what they are doing. By making each character interesting, and none of them flat or one-sided, it makes the book even better because you feel sad about what these characters are doing to themselves and to others. By the end of this book I felt very sad about the state of our world today, and the books message really got to me. I found out recently that this was the author’s first official novel. What a great first novel! I know I would never be able to write something this good on my first try.