Reviews for Suicide club : a novel

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

In a frighteningly plausible future, the economy revolves around the currency of health, life spans are potentially eternal, and the new have-nots are born with poverty encoded in their genes.Lea Kirino is a career Lifer. At 100 years old, she is already high up the ladder at the Healthfin fund, where she spends her days working with clients whose fortunes are invested in the organ trademostly hearts, lungs, and livers. A stringent devotee of the shadowy Ministry's recommendations for maximum life expectancy, Lea and her equally genetically pedigreed fiance, Todd, are perfectly poised to join the long-rumored Third Wave. If chosen to receive newly developed life-prolonging treatments, Lea's expected life span of 300 years might be extended indefinitely through a combination of organ replacement, enhancements, nutrient and exercise regimes, and, of course, strict avoidance of cortisol-increasing activities like listening to music or looking at art. Yet, even with immortality at stake, Lea can't let go of the complications of her pasther brother's death, her own violent impulses, the disappearance of her "antisanct" father, Kaito, who turned his back on the family 88 years ago and hasn't been seen since. When Kaito suddenly returns, his radical influence stirs up Lea's own unruly impulses and exposes her to scrutiny from the Ministry. His presence also has the unintended consequence of introducing her into the inner circle of the Suicide Cluba group of well-connected rebels who choose the crime of death over the sentence of eternal lifeforcing Lea to decide if living means the experience of life or adherence to the cult of immortality that has replaced all other forms of culture in this speculative New York of the future. Heng expertly threads a ribbon of dread through her glittering vistas and gleaming characters; however, the plot is so solidly foreshadowed that the climax, when it comes, feels almost preordained. This speaks to the intricacy of the world Heng has created and sets a dark mirror against the robotic bureaucracy of the Ministry's oversight that assigns at birth "an algorithm [that] decides who lives and who doesn't" so as not to waste resources on anyone with subpar genetic potential. Unfortunately, it also undercuts the author's considerable skill at rendering her characters in all their solid, bodily reality by making their actions seem less like startling acts of free will and more like functions of an overweening plot.A complicated and promising debut that spoofs the current health culture craze even as it anticipates its appalling culmination. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.


Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

DEBUT In the not-too-distant future, Lea appears to have it all: a high-powered job, a loving partner, and a very good chance at obtaining immortality. At birth it was determined that she could live well past age 300; recent technological advances and her willingness to cooperate with ever-stricter directives from the Ministry mean she might be chosen to receive life-prolonging treatments indefinitely. But with the sudden return of her estranged father, Lea is thrust into the Suicide Club, a strange underground organization determined to exist outside the influence of the Ministry. Drawn further into her father's world, Lea is forced to choose between his love and the life she has worked so hard to achieve. It is not difficult to imagine a future similar to the one in which Lea lives, where organ replacement surgeries and enhancements and the desire to remain young forever are seen as the norm. VERDICT Fans of modern speculative fiction and readers who love stories that warn us to be careful what we wish for will be enthralled by Heng's highly imaginative debut, which deftly asks, "What does it really mean to be alive?" [See Prepub Alert, 1/8/18.]-Portia Kapraun, Delphi P.L., IN © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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