It’s possibly the future or more likely near future Sweden and population expansion and capitalism is the name of the game. Artists, writers, the childless and partnerless are consigned to special units to be experimented on and have their organs harvested once they reach an age deemed no longer useful to society. Dorrit an unsuccessful writer is sent to The Unit and despite being experimented upon and slated for an early death at the hands of organ harvesters finds friends, falls in love and is given a new reason to live.
There are many interesting points in this book but they are tempered by endless lists of food and decoration and what feels like a general lack of interest in science from the author. The inhabitants of the unit are experimented on but the experiments rarely feel like they’re anything other than “what can I think of that seems a bit sciency” and there are quite a few flaws in the internal consistency.
Despite being written in 2005 it feels very dated (almost as if it might have been written in the 90s) and references to eBooks and DVDs as modern seem quite out of place.
It’s an interesting book and one which when I’ve described to people has created far more interest in it than I saw in people who had read the book (it was a book club book).
3/5
Ian Whates has taken the approach where many elements are introduced in the first novel and are given a surface treatment while the key story unfolds. This sets the series up nicely for future books but unfortunately means the novel often reads like a pilot episode of a TV show. It is likely my dislike of this is personal as it seems to be a common trope, whereby the ensemble are introduced; key organisations named (and clearly marked as good vs. evil) and then finally ending in a cliff hanger hoping for the network executives (or readers in this case) to commission (or read) further instalments.