On the Blockade Book

An entirely fascinating tale, published in 2000, that was almost prescient, in some ways, regarding what was then the near future. So much so, that at one point I had to look up the publishing date to determine that it hadn't been written after the Great Recession of 2007! In an age where information flows almost freely, knowledge has fallen prey to belief. Nothing can be trusted to be true, because the flow of information can be, and is indeed being, manipulated. This book explores that concept in an entertaining and, at times, chilling way. The protagonist relaying the story is in hiding in a ravaged Africa, and is explaining how he came to be in that situation. I was enthralled, until the end. At that point, logic flew out the window, making it all come together in a way that this reader found difficult, if not impossible, to swallow. I despise pat endings, and for a novel of this quality, to wind up with such an obvious hack job at the end is particularly vexing. But even so, My overall enjoyment of the book largely offsets that one, major annoyance. Suffice it to say that everything changes, except for one, very important detail, which renders the ending disastrous by its omission. Still, if you like dystopic speculative fiction, this is about as good as it gets.