In his world the government is redundant

kw: book reviews, science fiction, future fiction

"Welcome, I'm Robert Burger King, may I take your order, please?" Had I written Jennifer Government, which was actually written by Max Barry, that would have been my opening line. Maybe that's why I only write reviews.

So, a passel of cool ideas: Family names have given way to the name of one's employer (I first thought, from the title, that Jennifer was much bigger or more dangerous than the FBI agent she turned out to be). Taxation has been abolished, so even the government must "run as a business"; that leads to painful scenes like a victim's family being asked to pay for investigatory and prosecution expenses. The Western Hemisphere plus Australia & Britain is the largest of three market blocs, while today's "third world" is still as anarchic as ever. Within the American bloc, free trade is freer than ever, complete with corporations that hire mercenaries and wage war.

Jennifer Government, formerly Jennifer Maher when she was in insurance, is caught in the middle of this war. Of course, she gets out alive, as do a few of those dear to her, but the pathway is strewn with bodies. Only one or two of those are her responsibility; NRA mercenaries are much more prolific corpse-producers.

The book jacket blurbs all emphasize the book's humor. There's a little, such as Billy NRA being mistaken for Bill NRA, a much more dangerous dude, though Billy is the one who survives the confrontation. But I was in little danger of laughing myself to death. The emotional roller-coaster never let up, and was sometimes as nausea-inducing as a real coaster. And the book's villain, one John Nike, is the first completely unredeemable character I've encountered. Interestingly, the other major characters are as complex, as good-and-stupid-and-smart-and-bad as we all are underneath. This kind of range is rare in a younger writer.

Mixed feelings on my part. I think I'm glad I read it, but the jury is still out.