Finished We 11/7/12
My post on Good Read-
This is a compelling mystery novel that incorporates intriguing elements of Crime Noir and Dystopian Fiction.
The tale begins in a city shrouded in fog, and the sun hasn't been seen in over fifteen years. Ennui and depression seems to prevent any inquiry into the quandary. Thomas Vale, a jaded and boozy detective, is trying to find out who has been stealing from an entrepreneur who compiles artifacts to remind people of that long ago time when the sun used to shine.
Soon, the plot makes a complete "180", and you find that things are not at all what they seem to be.
Steven John's writing is strictly utilitarian, but the story is very inventive and the action is fast-paced and clicks right along. You won't be blown away by the character development or narrative structure, yet the dread and foreboding of being stuck in a life of unending fog is chillingly presented.
The quintessential 'beach' or 'airport' read!
Tommy Vale- Main character, alcoholic, drifting through life, and has a background in the army. His job was to shoot people infected with 'plague'.
Fog emitted 257am daily from 'stacks'. This always woke Vale, and the meaning of the novel's title.
Rebecca Ayers-Approaches Vale to investigate the murder of a man. She tells him that 'her boyfriend' was falsely accused, but really it was her father was murdered, and her brother was set up.
Samuel Ayers- He was murdered because he was going to go public about the government cover-up.
Fallon Ayers- Samuel's son and brother of Rebecca.
Eddie Vessel- Vale hired by him to look for someone who is stealing from him. Vessel 'collects' items for people which remind them of the sun and outdoors.
Joe Watley is the thief, but also a key figure in the government's cover-up.
Thomas Heller- This young man is probably Vale's only friend. Vale gave him a deposit for an apartment, and Heller kept the money. Vale intimidates Heller, demands the money back, and occasionally loans him more money. Heller has a taped collection of classical music that Vale begins to enjoy. He can only take it in small dosages because it depresses him so much.
Dr. Salk- A pharmacist who gives Vale the downers that are necessary for him in order to sleep. The drugstore is also a place to buy alcohol and food, and it seems to be government subsidized.
ALBERGUE- The bar that Vale drinks and drowns his sorrow.
Lucid Jones- A blind black man working for the government who tails Vail.
Anthony Kirk- Designed the dam that did not get used. The cold fusion nuclear plant was set in place in stead. This blew up and caused the radiation leaks, and the reason the city was guaranteed. Fog was found to be a way of containing the radiation from spreading. 'Stacks' created in the town, now used to keep the people ignorant of their real situation.
20,000 in the city as a kind of prison. 10 million died as a result of the nuclear accident. 15 mile wide
band of open area around the city. Easily patrolled so that the government can see people escaping
city. When Vale was in the army he was told that the people that he shot were infected with plague.
However, they were radiation victims.
Anthony Kirk murdered Samuel Ayeres because Ayers was going to go public with the cover-up.
Heller commits suicide. He had been beaten by government agents because they thought that Vale had told him about the cover-up. He leaps off the balcony of his apartment while Vale was with him.
At the end of the novel, Vale blows up the dam with a natural gas tank from Ayers house. He escapes the explosion, and drives back to the city where he lies in the street as the fog dissipates. People are too scared to come out, and it is unclear whether or not he dies.
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