This brainy dystopian satire sees a tech giant disclaim responsibility for terrifying mishaps befalling citizens of the near future
A swarming techno-dystopia set in London four years hence, Joanna Kavenna’s new novel concerns the reputational damage suffered by Beetle, an all-conquering tech giant, when George Mann, a nondescript middle-aged father with no history of violence, suddenly murders his wife and two sons. The crime isn’t the centre of the story, more its impact on Beetle’s CEO, Guy, whose aura rests on the accuracy of his predictive algorithms, which – nourished by 24/7 surveillance of everything from browser history to heart rate – are supposed to pre‑empt such atrocities.
The early part of the novel catalogues the ills of life in a data-driven dictatorship, in which the poor are jailed before they can commit crimes, and you need BeetleBits, Beetle’s cryptocurrency, for “basic functioning in society”. But you can only earn them by working for Beetle, which only hires the best; a degree helps, but universities only accept payment in… you guessed it.
Related: Joanna Kavenna: ‘History is littered with people who have said, “This is the only reality”’
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