In this futuristic thriller, Anwar is a Consultant for an
altered version of the United Nations. Consultants are
referred to as the Dead, and he's not entirely human. We
learn all this in the first few pages of EVENSONG. Anwar,
who was born in New York, is given the job of bodyguard to
a woman in England who is running a conference. There'll be
security present, but nothing like Anwar.
EVENSONG is front-loaded with a lot of history, explaining
the alterations that have taken place in society; how the
New Anglicans got to be the world's fastest growing Church,
and what's been happening to all the other religions; what
changes have occurred in the UN and the new UNEX. Anwar
can't start work before slogging through a martial arts
tournament which comes across as a fighting computer game;
he's up against all the other Dead consultants. When he
meets the lady he's to guard, Olivia, Anwar right away has
unromantic sex with her on the table. The Bodyguard it's
not. The tone is masculine and adult with strong language
and I found it hard to get into anyone's head.
The conference, which will be a summit, is in the
traditional seaside town of Brighton, but held at the end
of a two-mile long pier in the sea, which sounds like a bad
place to be if the venue goes on fire. I did enjoy the
descriptions of the engineering. Unusual settings for other
parts of the story include hunting brown bears in Croatia,
and a house built to mimic Frank Lloyd Wright's classic
Fallingwater. The New Anglicans, with Olivia as their
Archbishop, turn out to be both a corporation and a church,
with an outreach foundation and a concern over access to
water. A journalist at the summit asks how come energy shortages are almost a
thing of the past, but water rights issues and shortages continue to dominate
the news?
John Love has worked in the music industry for many years
and lives near London. EVENSONG is his second science
fiction book and he has added plenty of detail and action.
I feel the book would suit a reader who enjoys reading
thrillers about foiling one assassination attempt after
another, shootings, bombings, corporate manipulations and
treachery. Too much violence for me so I hope the future
really doesn't turn out this way. Though John Love is on
the money about the freshwater shortages.
A near-future thriller where those who protect humanity
are
not always completely human.
The future is a dangerous place. Keeping the world stable
and peaceful when competing corporate interests and
nation-states battle for power, wealth, and prestige has
only gotten harder over the years. But that’s the United
Nations’ job. So the UN has changed along with the rest of
the world. When the UN’s “soft” diplomacy fails, it has
harder options. Quiet, scalpel-like options: The
Dead—biologically enhanced secret operatives created by
the
UN to solve the problems no one else can.
Anwar Abbas is one of The Dead. When the Controller-
General
of the UN asks him to perform a simple bodyguard mission,
he’s insulted and resentful: mere bodyguard work is a
waste
of his unique abilities. But he takes the job, because to
refuse it would be unthinkable.
Anwar is asked to protect Olivia del Sarto, the host of an
important upcoming UN conference. Olivia is head of the
world’s fastest-growing church, but in her rise to power
she
has made enemies: shadowy enemies with apparently
limitless
resources.
Anwar is one of the deadliest people on earth, but her
enemies have something which kills people like him. And
they’ve sent it for her. It’s out there, unstoppable and
untraceable, getting closer as the conference approaches.
As he and Olivia ignite a torrid affair, Anwar must
uncover
the conspiracy that threatens to destroy her, the UN, and
even The Dead.
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