The marketing copy for 21NOTHING, Philip Olsen Riendeau’s debut novel, calls it an “unapologetic harassment of the novel as art form.” Interesting that the word “harassment” was used instead of, say, “interrogation.” To harass is to annoy through repeated questioning, and while 21NOTHING breaks a lot of new ground, it does so by respecting its forebears, not making them throw up their hands in exasperation.
Tadgh El-Haddad (the voice of his AI assistant hilariously calls him “Tiger”) is an engineering professor in a futuristic West Palm Beach. He has a lot of problems: crushing debt, a job he no longer enjoys, and his love life is as desiccated as a flower left too long in the Florida heat. Plus he’s about to be evicted from his “dormitory pod,” where people can conduct their whole lives without ever leaving. The only thing that could cut through his doldrums is an accidental discovery that plunges him into a vast criminal underworld where his life is in danger at every turn–which is exactly what happens.
21NOTHING is categorized as “science fiction meets southern gothic”, and that description is certainly apt. But it may also remind readers of the oeuvre of Carl Hiassen (Bad Monkey, Strip Tease, Hoot, etc) whose main “character” is almost always the setting. Steeped in the otherworldly splendor of rural Florida, that same sense comes through in Riendeau’s writing. The sci-fi elements of the book are also rich, with high-tech gadgetry throughout: drone cars, cryptocurrency, 3D-printed guns, Demolition Man-esque commerce (purchases are made not with money but unseen “credits”), plus a surgical procedure called “whole dermal replacement.” As for southern gothic, a genre that relies heavily on imagery, Riendeau’s novel meets that challenge as well. Consider this description: “Some of the bhang clings to his lip in globules like spume washed onto the tawny beach.” Taken as a whole, 21NOTHING is a richly imagined, thrill-a-minute tale that manages to slow down in places for a bit of wry commentary on our current world that is is sure to appeal to fans of immersive, high-quality, dystopian fiction.
Philip Olsen Riendeau’s fast-paced tale 21NOTHING is both wry and thrilling and a perfect paean to the dangers of high-tech culture.
~Anthony Aycock for IndieReader