Test Drive

by Patrick McGinty

Janice "Pegs" Pegula, a mechanic and test driver at a driverless car company in 2030 Pittsburgh, does not steal from her employer. Not necessarily. She skims-a tire here, a battery there, reselling parts from the supply room to save for a higher, drier apartment. Surge season is about to hit, bringing with it hurricane-like winds, public protests for better surge pay, and desperate modifications to driverless prototypes by companies who see the climate emergency as a final chance to prove their social purpose. Dodging delivery drones on her test drives and tech bros on her maintenance shifts, Pegs struggles to keep everyone happy-bosses and family, the mechanic buying her parts, and her expanding crew of fellow skimmers. When the group decides to acquire and strip a full driverless prototype, driving-and life-gets even more risky in this first fictional work to dramatize the existential crises faced by individuals working in the driverless car sector.

192 pages, Paperback

Published May 24, 2022

Reviews

[Bill O'driscoll · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good short, satirical novel about people testing self-driving cars in the near future, in Pittsburgh. McGinty paints an all-too-believable portrait of the city as the effects of global warming sets in, with underpaid, underappreciated workers pushing through raging rainstorms and managerial incompetence just to make ends meet. It's all done with a wry sense of humor and the proper distrust of the corporate powers that be. The narrative structure is kind of loose for such a short book, but it's worthwhile nonetheless.

[Tbfrank · Rating 1 out of 5]

This compact novel draws on every issue that frightens us in the 21st Century: Climate Change; Artificial Intelligence; Unemployment; Contract Employees; Audio, Visual and Biometric Monitoring of Employees; Automated and Remote Call Centers; Product Obsolescence; Scarcity of Commodities and Housing; Rising Prices and Falling Salaries, Social Media and Cell Phone Addiction; Racial Disparities and Biases. There's hardly room for the characters' interpersonal problems - but they are there, virtually incidental, overwhelmed by the 'surge' of extraneous detail. (Surge being the word of choice to symbolize the worst possible effects of Climate Change.)

Another in a series of texts written in present tense I've come across recently, which in combination with bizarrely expressed vocabulary, made much of the novel unintelligible. The blurb on the back cover gives a clear statement of what the novel intended to accomplish - though calling what passes for a plot as exposing an 'existential' crisis seems pretentious - if only the novel had been written as clearly. The climatic chapter as the heroine struggles to escape a car as it sinks in the Allegheny, conveys the action in a visceral and gripping manner lacking in the balance of the work.

All in all a disappointment, but I'm not sure what I should have expected from a writer whose publications include ZYZZYVA, which pretty much sums up what I read in its title.

[veronica ay · Rating 5 out of 5]

We follow Pegs and her cohort of Revo test self-drivers as they pawn literal scraps from their employer onto the black market to make do. Except, the meager additional income isn’t cutting it anymore. Pegs wants a second-floor apartment, but the competition is fierce. Anna has loans. Leah wants change. The other two women would like to increase the profitability—and the stakes—of their side business, but Pegs isn’t convinced it’s worth it.

This short book spends some time showing us how Pegs is finally backed into a corner and forced to accept her own desperation and that she needs help. This takes a good chunk of pages, because Pegs is pretty stubborn! I didn’t mind this build up to the decisions made in the novel’s final act and honestly could have spent more time enjoying the small moments. I liked the way the cli-fi elements cause an inversion of many of our current values: homes are undesirable compared to dry, second-floor apartments. I was already a little nervous about our delivery drone future and reading this unlocked a new fear.

Funny, bleak and simultaneously hopeful. Really liked it.

[A · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short novel is part near future, working class dystopia and part love letter to Pittsburgh. It’s pretty easy to see why I had to get my hands on it immediately. The story follows the main character Pegs as she tries to navigate a world in which workers have little choice but to work endless hours and scrounge to live. She decides to fight back by stealing car parts from her employer, Uber, ahem, I mean Revo -a company that is trying to develop self-driving cars in Pittsburgh. Two of her co-workers are embroiled in her scheme, as well. Meanwhile they all struggle to make sense of the endless grind of their lives.

I enjoyed the simplicity of this book and I could relate to endless grind of work (as we all can, I suspect). This book really takes a look at what the working class may become in the next 10 years and the struggle to understand the importance of politics for someone who just wants to live. But, as you and I both know, every choice is political and so Pegs learns that she must also struggle with that observation. I also loved that the book is practically a guided tour of Pittsburgh. Many neighborhoods are named and described with atlas-like accuracy. I’m glad someone else enjoys Pittsburgh as much as I do.

I recommend this book to folks who love Pittsburgh, want to fight back against the man, and enjoy near future fiction. Find more reviews and interviews here: https://itgodp.libsyn.com/