Dick’s pad, though Winters takes a less bleak view of humankind than the master of bad-vibes future California though somewhat less surprisingly inventive than the author’s Underground Airlines (2016), it’s still a skillful and swift-moving concoction.įor those who like their dystopias with a dash of humor. In some details, Winters’ story might have fallen out of a forgotten file drawer at Philip K. And are things really all that horrific out in the country that lies beyond the Shangri-La of free California, where the vaunted “Objectively So” may differ in kind and degree? Well, the mind plays tricks, and so does the tongue, and Ratesic finds himself caught up in a web that even he couldn’t foresee. “Somebody’s telling lies in here,” he pronounces, “and it’s making it hard to eat.” It’s Ratesic’s special skill, shared by only a few, to be able to ferret out lies as they’re being hatched, in this case by a kid who’s been stealing his mom’s pills and takes it on the lam, to Ratesic’s joy, since “it’s the part I like: pure law enforcement, my feet in the boots and the boots on the ground, me breathing heavy and charging after a liar.“ Alas, even in the independent nation called Golden State, there are those who would adorn and adjust the truth, even when it comes close to Ratesic-say, in the matter of the deceased brother for whom he continues to mourn. Laszlo Ratesic is just tucking into his chicken and waffles as Winters’ yarn opens, but then he, a noted “speculator” in the employ of the Speculative Service, happens to catch the tail end of a prevarication. “Any assault on reality, any infusion of falsehood in the air can’t be countenanced, no matter the source.” Lying weakens trust, which damages society. Tell a fib, a whopper, a confabulation in California, and, promises Winters ( The Last Policeman, 2013, etc.), you’ll wind up in a heap of trouble.
0 kommentar(er)
