Sensation Machines

May 4, 2020
Wilson’s scathing, engrossing latest (after Flatscreen), a satire of digital and consumer culture in a near-future New York, centers on Michael and Wendy, a 40-something married couple who become divided over a government-created Universal Basic Income program. Wendy works in marketing and is tasked with creating an anti-UBI ad campaign in order to promote a secretive data-mining product. Michael, a dividend trader obsessed with the artistry of Eminem (Michael called himself MC WebMD in college), loses his savings via bad investments and reels from the murder of his friend, the flamboyant and wealthy Ricky. Michael’s suspicions range from Wendy’s employers to members of the city’s #Occupy movement being responsible for the murder, and while spiraling into a depressive breakdown, he launches a quest for justice. Meanwhile, Wendy takes to her new client, Lucas, masterminding a ludicrous anti-UBI campaign aimed to promote the tagline #WorkWillSetYouFree. Filled with characters bred in an environment “that values entertainment over accuracy,” Wilson’s observations are often sharp-witted, extracting humor from sources like video game addiction, cryptocurrency, and herd mentality. Wilson undercooks some of his attempts at crafting futuristic products (swag for immersive videogame Shamerica), yet as Michael and Wendy’s marriage fractures, the author carefully braids their individual narratives to a satisfying, if inevitable, crescendo. This feels all too real. Agent: Erin Harris, Folio Literary.

May 1, 2020
In the midst of a potential social revolution, a husband and wife on the downside of a bad marriage find themselves at odds. Here we find a perhaps-prescient tale of murder and deceit set during a political upheaval in the near-future United States. There are hints of events to come, with drone deliveries and social uprisings as well as a critical plot involving the potential passing of a bill authorizing a universal basic income for all Americans. The two critical players are Michael Mixner, a Wall Street trader fallen dangerously into debt, and his wife, Wendy, a marketing guru soldiering on despite PTSD from a recent stillbirth. This marriage between a drug-addled former hip-hop artist-turned-trader and an anxiety-ridden marketing whiz is crumbling, but so is the community around them. The pivotal event comes when Michael's best friend, a wealthy gay activist named Ricky, is shot to death after violent protestors interrupt the party of some wealthy elites. It's not a mystery--Wilson calls out the killer in plain sight but wraps the drama in a web of familial deceit, societal dismay, and economic inequality that renders no one innocent. The nexus is Michael's plot to get rich via a scheme involving a cryptocurrency in a virtual reality game that just happens to be the brainchild of his wife's new client. Wendy has been hired to launch a stealth campaign dubbed Project Pinky, designed to derail the UBI bill. The narrative is dripping with drama, not least due to Wendy's unapologetic seizure of her own fate in the wake of Michael's recklessness. Wilson creates a deft juxtaposition of contemporary American classes on par with Richard Price's Lush Life, but whether readers approach it as a flawed crime drama or a satire of American inequality, they may find that implausible plot threads and unanswered questions leave them dissatisfied with the experience. An ambitious but erratic portrayal of a society gone wrong with no resolution in sight.

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June 1, 2020
Wilson's bitterly comical second novel, following Flatscreen (2012), offers a dark caricature of America's financial institutions. In a not-too-distant future, drones make home deliveries, and a second, more obstinate wave of Occupy protesters has taken over Wall Street, where Michael Mixner works as a trader. Once a hip-hop artist, Michael now lives in a comfortable but bedbug-ridden Brooklyn apartment with his wife, Wendy, a sought-after marketing genius. In the wake of a stillbirth, Wendy has shut Michael out, focusing, instead, on Project Pinky, a lucrative but shadowy campaign that, unbeknownst to Wendy, is intended to topple and replace a pending bill supporting universal basic income. Wendy is also oblivious to the fact that Michael has gotten the couple into debt. Hoping to bail himself out before his marriage ends, Michael seeks quick riches through a cryptocurrency-backed augmented-reality game that his recently murdered best friend, Ricky, once invested in. Michael obsesses over Ricky's murder, becoming convinced one of Wendy's associates was involved. While this can feel overplotted, Wilson delights with his pop-culture savvy, crisp prose, and unapologetic observations of revolutionary aspirations.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)