As I often do when purchasing Kindle books I downloaded Paul Carter is A Dead Man with no preconceptions and having only briefly read the blurb. I wasn't disappointed. This was a refreshingly different read. The novel, the first in a trilogy, is set in a dystopian Britain of the very near future. A worryingly bleak near future. A vision of the future that felt frighteningly real. So England has gone ultra-nationalist, it has closed its borders, isolated Scotland and turned in on itself. UKIP voters - you'd love it! Technology has gone a step further and everyone is addicted to the network - A state sponsored Internet feed. Swearing is outlawed and anyone showing anti-British sentiment is likely to be hauled up for judgement by a state-sponsored crew, who are essentially a privatised police force. Chillingly the general public decides the fate of offenders and that fate is usually death.
Bracha's point with the novel is, I think, largely about the damage social media and new technology is doing to us as individuals and to society as a whole. It so easy to judge others online without being in possession of the full facts. The Internet is the ultimate mob, bullies and cowards can easily hide behind a keyboard where anonymity is king.
The novel flowed very fast and the author let the reader fill in a lot of blanks for themselves, which was refreshing and helped the flow of the book. I found it exciting and I really cared for the little band of outlaws that Carter assembles. Five well deserved stars.
