Book Review: Tipping Point, Michelle Cook
Thriller: Tipping Point, Michelle Cook
Blog Tour: September 23, 2020
By 2035, England and the rest of the world are dealing with the ferocity of global warming gone wild. Additionally, climate pressures and world unrest have pushed the English government to become a very authoritarian police state. Even religion has been mandated by the government, a Unity religion that incorporates elements of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and many other spiritualities. Other faiths are not permitted to practice. Drones and a ubiquitous security force ensure compliance from a largely quiescent public.
Essie is a young woman who wants to be different. She was orphaned in a terrorist attack that killed her entire family when she was in her mid-teens. They were on a family trip that she had avoided by feigning illness and she carries survivor’s guilt. When a chance encounter brings her into a protest movement, she finds the opportunity to express her differences with the government and with what her society has become.
Part of Essie’s self expression is done in online forums. She is very politically active under her pseudonym. This has also drawn the attention of a mysterious person who seems to care for her personally. Eventually, they decide to meet. Essie is surprised to learn that the man, Jack, is a scientist working on a technology that could clean carbon from the atmosphere and reverse climate change. He is convinced, though, that the company he works for will never allow it to be built. They make too much money from the status quo, they have significant influence within the government and the police, and they have no desire to see the technology released unless and until they can profit from it.
Prior to this year I would have thought this kind of rapid devolution of a modern democracy into a police state run by a corporate kleptocracy fueled by runaway climate change and global refugee and immigration pressures would be impossible by 2035. Living in America, seeing what has happened to my country in a very short period particularly during the current pandemic, makes me a little less doubtful of the author’s near-future timeline. In particular, the rise of militaristic police and drone surveillance is already in its nascent stage. I worry that events may unfold chillingly close to her dark vision within my lifetime (at least within my expected allotment of years).
Author Michelle Cook has written a debut novel with a determined heroine living in a dark future. Still, she manages to make a book of hope, a book that celebrates the power of an individual to make a difference in the face of overwhelming odds. I sincerely hope, though, that we can find a way to reach 2035 without the author’s vision coming true!
Our thanks to Rachel’s Random Resources Blog Tours for providing the book in exchange for our review as part of the blog tour for this book. Check out the other bloggers participating for more opinions on this book. The opinions here are solely those of Scintilla.
Book Review: Tipping Point, Michelle Cook