“It will come to be said one-quarter of humankind stood unspeaking and immobile upon the Chairman’s three minutes of silence. But that was later, and this is now. The third heart attack in the span of a year finishes the job. Defiant, he smokes until his body disallows anything but autonomic function. It hurts, and then it hurts no more. Hours later, a service broadcast illuminates televisions nationwide, displaying the Chairman’s portrait on an easel and words upon a banner hanging aloft: ‘Carry on the cause.’” So opens Anderson Boyd’s new novel The Lease of Nature, decidedly esoteric.
URL: https://www.theleaseofnature.com/
Almost like the solemn cold open of a John Woo picture. While likely having its influences in the cinema given Boyd’s background as a screenwriter, it also launches the reader full-throttle into the heart of the dark world permeating the text. The story is about a medical breakthrough that could change countless lives, specifically the successful implementation by two American medical doctors of three-dimensional heart printing, getting them into the cross-hairs of a terrifying, transcontinental human harvesting organization known brilliantly as the Red Market.
Naturally, all hell breaks loose for our protagonists, as heroes and villains begin a terrifying, covert race to the top to secure the technology. The story unfolding at delicious pace, everything about the world-building in particular stands out to me. The images Boyd puts in your mind are disturbing, haunting, and mirror the kind of technofusion and Asian-American intrigue of the literary works of William Gibson, and the pioneering work of filmmaker Ridley Scott. It’s clear the book is written so as to be easy to option for a major motion picture, I would suggest any top-tier producers in that town form an orderly line. But on its own as a literary achievement, it’s a surprisingly strong entry in the science fiction and medical thriller genres.
There are plenty of strong pieces of work that still feel highly referential, and not particularly original when it comes to their individual voice, vision. But Boyd is able to write with this cold, matter-of-fact prose, painting sometimes terrifying scenes with this casual approach. While for some this could be the kiss of death as far as immersion goes, with Boyd it works because there are no guarantees. Everything unfolds in the present time, and some of the exploits are enjoyably mean-spirited. The antagonists are particularly nasty, with a kind of nineties villain aesthetic eschewing political correctness or excess origin stories. Rather, they’re complex absolutes, able to perform terrifying feats for entirely comprehensible reason. Everything about the world Boyd creates feels real, because of that all bets are off because there’s never the sense any trope will be hardwired in – for hero or villain alike.
AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/Lease-Nature-Anderson-Boyd/dp/B0G27M1414
All in all I’d highly recommend The Lease of Nature for book lovers everywhere, not just fans of its particular niche genres. It’s smart, filled with action, has some sharp ideas and social commentary, and has strong, sympathetic character portrayals. For all the flash-bang and high-concepts at play, Boyd loves his characters – giving the heroes strong backstories and genuine personality and conviction. Meld that with a world that feels all too real, and you have yourself something that will keep you on the edge of the seat for the entire page count.
Claire Uebelacker