This review is part of the Literature World Tour.
Electric is Chad Taylor's fourth novel (his earlier novel, Shirker, was published by Canongate in 2000). Electric is set in Auckland, New Zealand's capital city, and tells the story of three characters — Sam, Jules and Candy.
Sam is a drug-taking computer geek spinning out of control, while Jules and Candy are mathematicians who have strange connections and even stranger habits. All this takes place around massive power cuts that quite literally shut Auckland down.
I started the book thinking it was a crime thriller with a cyber edge (along the lines of Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash) but computers don't actually play a huge role. The action really starts when Jules is found beaten almost to death and Candy disappears, leaving Sam to try and put the pieces together with only a handful of clues that make little sense.
Sam is the only character we get to know in Electric; as a result, the novel strikes me more as an Antipodean, modern day Sherlock Holmesian story than any other crime novel I've read, but in my humble opinion, no one can really compete with the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional detective.
Next in New Zealand: Jim Murdoch's review of Spinners
Next stop on the Literature World Tour: Canada!
Spex
Date: Wed Jan 13, 2010 12:37 PM GMT
GER, oops, and to think I've BEEN to Wellington. Twice.
It was definitely interesting to read about how the city tried to cope, given we are all so dependent on electricity to run almost everything!
GER
Date: Thu Jan 07, 2010 11:39 AM GMT
Auckland isn't the capital of New Zealand, Wellington is.
Auckland has had numerous large scale power cuts over the past 15 years, so it is interesting to see an author work this into a story.
