Ballantine Books

Rating NR Genre fiction Author Thomas Nevins Publisher Ballantine Books

Although The Age of Conglomerates - A Novel of the Future by Thomas Nevins is a bit too much like George Orwell’s 1984 in concept, this new novel is worth reading. 

The novel takes place forty years into the future during The Age of the Conglomerates.  The novel follows the story of a separated family who lives in America, a country which has become controlled by the few, with no checks and balances, and under constant surveillance.  In other words,  Big Brother has taken over.  This time the people of America, dealing with economic crises caused by the ineffective social security system, have become completely brainwashed into believing the Conglomerate Party will really do what is right for America.

The Conglomerate Party has separated the society into the wanted and the unwanted.  They send anyone eighty years and older away to “Coot Camp” and they discard any unwanted children and teenager into the subways and underground tunnels under cities.  These children are considered the “Dyscards”.  Most of the Americans do not object to the idea of sending the unwanted away because the Conglomerates have effectively convinced the citizens that the America will run more effectively without these unwanted or useless people. The citizens of America’s greed, desire and ease of comfort blind them to the horrors the Conglomerate Party induces. 

The novel follows the story of Christine Salter, a doctor at the Conglomerate run medical Center which contains the gene pool, her sister, Xiemena, who is a Dyscard, and their grandparents, George and Patsy Salter, who are Coots sent to live in Arizona Coot Camps. Nevins effectively covers personal stories from every social group, giving the reader a complete view of the society and therefore the insight into why and how a small group of obviously immoral, selfish, judgmental, prejudice, and power hungry people can cause such destruction for so long without being stopped.

Soon the separated Salter family, a pair of Coots, a Dyscard, and a Conglomerate, come together in realization and help undermine the Conglomerate Party’s leader.  Its an interesting journey with problems pertinent to our current society (genetic engineering, the social security problem, and so on), but the book overall is too predictable. The Age of Conglomerates - A Novel of The Future is an thought provoking rendition of the Big Brother concept in a modern society, similar to our own, but not revolutionary in thought. 
 
The Age of Conglomerates - A Novel of the Future is scheduled to be release August 19th, 2008.