Review | Wrapping My Mind Around FUTURISTIC VIOLENCE AND FANCY SUITS

Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits
Written by Jason Pargin
Published by St. Martin’s Griffin
October 6, 2015
Paperback, 379 pgs.

I think I’m still trying to wrap my mind around what I just read.

I knew from the back of the book that the story I was getting into was gonna be a mixture of futurism and today’s slice of reality. You have a lot of people who want to be “influencers”, the technology is available for the world to see every thing that happens in real time, and there’s a cat. Something is out to get Zoey Ashe and it’s not going to be easy or pretty for her to escape.

At least that’s what the back of the book says.

And as I’ve stated, I’m still trying to wrap my mind around what I read because yes it is all of the above; however, I was so not expecting what I got.

Zoey Ashe lives with her mother in a trailer park, works as a barista and has a very smelly cat named Stench Machine. On her way to work she receives a call from an anonymous caller informing her that she’s being followed, her life is in danger, and the caller is taking over the car. (I did mention this was futuristic, right?) Anyway, she and her cat manage to escape (she had to go back for her cat, of course), end up in a dangerous high speed pursuit, following all the instructions from the person on the other end of the line (think The Matrix).  Once in the temporary clear, Zoey finds out that her absentee father was not quite the person she thought he was.

Arthur Livingston was one of the richest men in the city of Tabula Ra$a and through his many business endeavors owned much of the town. But Tabula Ra$a is not like any city we know today; protection is privatized, the public police force is more of a joke, and everybody is out to make money while trying to become famous on the internet. Zoey finds out that her father has been killed and has left EVERYTHING to her.  So of course there’s a contract out on Zoey because the rumor is she has the key to his extremely valuable vault.

Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits is the story of keeping herself alive, keeping her cat alive, finding out who killed Arthur Livingston and what is in this extremely valuable vault everyone wants.

This really is a simple tale about Zoey trying to stay alive. Any actions taken between the good guys and bad guys are really not that unexpected. I’m not saying you can easily tell what’s gonna happen next but you do say “but of course” when it does. The obvious action is taken, but it’s super elaborate because of how futuristic the technology is. But it’s not necessarily a bad thing because if the story were any more complex the book would be too overwhelming. I say this due to Jason Pargin’s intricate world building. He had to make a decision and compromise between location and plot. Honestly, I think being simplistic on the plot line was the better choice. By making Tabula Ra$a a character along with Zoey, her cat, and her bodyguards, Pargin allows the reader’s imagination to go insanely wild. Tabula Ra$a as much of the story as New York City was for Sex and the City. Pargin manages to magnificently build a city that Zoey is learning how to navigate and come to a respect because it drives as much as her fancy modified cars do.

I’m not going to say much more about the plot, but boy, there’s a lot to say about this world. I could say the world he has set this in is a more technologically advanced society of what we live in now, but that’s too conservative. I could use the phrase “he dared to go there” and say he thought big and bold with no filter on his imagination. But deep down inside I still feel I’m not doing it  justice.

Take the movie Blade Runner, for instance. Electric holographic advertisements clutter the city’s landscape. The AI that run the advertisements talk to the pedestrians. Cars fly or have modifications. Now think of The Fifth Element. Futuristic cars and the population is separated by class. In Gattaca, your genes determine your life path. Here in this book, we have the same separation of the population, both financially and by profession, with enhancements made to the body. The separation comes if they opt to make the enhancements common knowledge.

Pargin has mashed this all together along with elements from our current year reality. Reminiscent of Taco Bell from Demolition Man, at the beginning of the book Zoey goes through a food distribution center that they call “the Wendy’s drive-through” because that’s what it used to be before her time. She tries to eat this chili type substance in the car; spilling it on herself, she wonders how people used to eat chili and drive at the same time. Just a generation ago you couldn’t devote both hands to eating a bowl of fast food chili while the car drove itself. Did people eat chili with a straw? Much of the world is run by AI whether it’s cars driving themselves, the ever changing décor in the house, or just the fact this world takes Alexa to a whole new (and almost scary) level. This is the stuff that we discuss on a regular basis, some with excitement and some with alarm: AI running the world; and the more money you have the more you control it — along with others not so fortunate, whether they know it or not.

Then Pargin layers in social media. Like the AI, future social media makes our version mere child’s play. Wireless cameras are everywhere, allowing people to record events and conversations in secret. People have cameras on their phones, accessories on their outfits, you name it. And everything is broadcasting and recording in real time. The broadcasts are loaded to a platform the people call Blink. Thinks of it as if YouTube was a 24/7 reality TV channel. With everyone’s feed being uploaded, privacy does not exist, especially if the feed is coming from tiny drones.

So the bounty hunters chasing Zoey simply log into Blink, see what everyone else sees and know exactly where she’s hiding. However, Blink can also help out the team who are trying to protect her. They watch to get clues on who might be the mastermind trying to harm Zoey. It’s a Big Brother world, but it’s not the government watching; it’s the public all watching each other, and not necessarily in a good way either (if there is a government; it hasn’t really been addressed). Nobody thinks twice about this creepy surveillance state, which is how I see it.

This team trying to protect Zoey. Four guys and a gal, each brilliant in their own way. It’s not till pretty far into the book we find out their story and what ties they had with her father but we do find out how they’re written into his will, between his companies, fortune, and her life. Their respect — almost love, even? — for Livingston means daughter Zoey gets loyalty and protection against the madman out to kill her. They dedicated their lives to her father when he was alive and have sworn their loyalty to her — for a price.

The interesting thing about the plot and the secret behind the what the madman wants is the science behind it. Well, I wouldn’t quite call it science because Pargin doesn’t use science jargon. I guess you could describe it as the scientific explanation-jargon that we would make up as kids yet here its ‘real’. Literally, some of this stuff is what an eight year old would tell their friends and everyone would believe it to be truth. Over on Star Trek it’s called “technobabble”.

Maybe that’s what I like so much about this book, is the simplicity of that. I did say that this was a simple tale. Keep Zoey and the cat alive. But I was able to turn my mind off and enjoy the child-like story telling with an adult twist. Sure, I had to think but really? Not so much. Maybe that’s what kept me wanting to take the time out of my day to read this so much. I wanted to know just how much more Jason Pargin could stretch my mind with his imagination.

A lot. And he probably could have done more but then I have to wonder if it would have been too much.

I would recommend this for the adult who wants to experience the warping of the adult mind with innocent school recess imagination. It’s fascinating. And I do look forward to the next book, Zoey Punches the Future in the Dick, but only after my mind stops reeling from this one.