Vigilance

December 1, 2018
Americans' addictions to guns, sports, and TV converge in a grim near future in this darkly satirical novel.Having completed his extraplanetary Divine Cities trilogy, Bennett (Foundryside, 2018, etc.) steers into territory that's more Stephen King than Isaac Asimov. The year is 2030, and John McDean is making ratings gold of a reality TV show in which shooters wreak havoc on civilian populations, with the survivors--never many--winning fat purses. McDean, cynical, is just right for the job as executive producer; no one is safe as long as the money flows. Told that shooting up a skating rink isn't making the numbers, McDean growls, "I thought it was middle school game night!" And never mind the shopping mall, which has been done again and again. McDean is constantly on the search for the Platonic viewer, the Ideal Person, the John Waynes of the world who turn out to be "a far cry from what service has been for two decades now, all technicians huddled around tiny glowing screens as they pilot incomprehensibly lethal robots through the stratosphere." The ordinary Joes and Janes who make up the audience for Vigilance are scared to death, armed to the teeth, jumpy and jittery, and ready to accept the show's promise that mayhem is about to descend upon them at any moment. So it does, to the disgust of Delyna, who works in a gritty urban bar and is about the only character in the story who recoils whenever the show is on. As a result, she's about the only one with a level head, which comes in handy when, as McDean learns, the whole show turns out to be a nicely calculated way to bring a divided, stupid, retrogressive America to its knees without any outsider's ever having to fire a shot. The satire is barn-door broad, the shots scattered, but Bennett has the trend lines just right, and even if his targets are sometimes too obvious, he can write up a storm.Turn off the tube and read a book--this book in particular, which promises trouble if you don't.

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January 1, 2019
Bennett's latest (after Foundryside?, 2018) is a broadly drawn morality tale, extrapolating from the American fascination with entertainment and guns to a future in which mass shootings are mass entertainment. John McDean is the producer of the game show Vigilance. This episode is set in a mall and is the testing ground for a new piece of software. Delyna, a dive-bar waitress, is experiencing the run-up to the hotly anticipated new episode firsthand?she is the only unarmed person in the building. The final act doesn't come as much of a surprise, and the characters are a bit too broadly drawn, but the moral of the story is a clear one that may attract readers across genres.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

Starred review from January 1, 2019

America in 2030 is ruled by guns, television networks, and most especially fear, in this frightfully realistic slice of dystopian fiction from Bennett (City of Stairs; Foundryside). The most popular TV show in the nation is Vigilance, in which gunmen, chosen and armed by the network, strike at carefully selected public spaces and must be brought down by an armed populace seeking to live out their "good guy with a gun" fantasies, all broadcast live for a spellbound audience and monster ratings. As the social media buzz for the latest episode mounts, John McDean, the show's cynical creator, exploits the dark desires that glue viewers to their screens but can't see his own vulnerabilities, exploited by others. VERDICT In a world where mass shootings are already a near-daily occurrence, this slim novel might be too grim and genuine for some, but Jackson's fast-paced, blistering look at how a nation's seductive myths about itself can lead to its downfall is an absolute must-read. Perfect for fans of Lauren Beukes, Richard K. Morgan, or the Netflix series Black Mirror.--Gregg Winsor, Johnson Cty. Lib., Overland Park, KS