Hope by @TerryTyler4 ~ A Disturbing Look at a Possible Near Future #Dystopian #Psychological #TuesdayBookBlog

Author: Terry Tyler

Kindle Edition

Category: Dystopian, Book Review

As the fourth decade of the 21st century looms, new PM Guy Morrissey and his fitness guru wife Mona (hashtag MoMo) are hailed as the motivational couple to get the UK #FitForWork, with Mona promising to ‘change the BMI of the nation’. 

Hope is a scarily plausible look into a dystopian, not too distant, future.

The title of the book has several implications, the main one initially being the Hope villages, which couldn’t be more misnamed, but as story progresses there are glimpses of the true meaning of the word. 

Guy Morrissey, elected prime minister, along with his fitness and health leading light wife Mona, have become the golden couple, known as brand Morrissey.  With their two perfect children they are the role models for the nation. Mona is on a mission to get the populace fit and anyone who doesn’t conform risks unemployment…and worse.

“We haven’t elected a prime minister, we’ve elected a lifestyle.” [Nick]

Lita Stone makes her living from her blog, reviewing and commenting on social issues with honesty and objectivity, and from profitable advertising. She also enjoys working part time in the health food café that kick started her rise to online fame. She shares living space with Nick, a journalist and the anonymous face behind the acerbic Widow Skanky, and Kendall, who suffers from constant low self esteem but takes the time and care to listen to others. Social media has become even more intrusive and people share most aspects of their lives online.

Paul Bettencourt, Mona’s father, is the founder of Nutricorp and the corporation is the power behind Brand Morrissey. Seemingly working for the greater good, the actual motivation is profit and control of the population by purposely increasing the social and economic problems of the country. There is a zero tolerance policy for homelessness—anyone picked up is sent to a Hope village—which are all provided for by Nutricorp and so the cycle is maintained.

The place was surrounded by high fences. There were guards. Three of them. All military and scary looking.

We follow the fortunes of Lita, Kendall and Nick, as their lives begin to unravel and the story takes an even darker turn as the true horror of the villages, and the enormity of those that control, use and manipulate, emerges. Those that fit the required government criteria have no thought, concern or compassion for anyone else’s misfortunes. Ultimately though, there is a glimmer of hope. The fight against evil has only just started.

Hope is a well thought through, thought provoking and well written tale from Terry Tyler, which is disturbing and too near a possible future scenario for comfort. Vivid descriptions paint distressing pictures of living in a country effectively dominated by a far reaching conspiracy. The characters are multi layered and realistic, all with their own personalities shown through dialogue and introspection, some to engage and empathise with and some to feel only loathing for, but all with the varied aspects of human nature that come to the fore in certain situations. It makes compelling reading.

I chose to read and review Hope based on a digital copy kindly supplied by the author.

Book links ~ Amazon UK | Amazon US 

About the Author

I am self-published and proud to be so, and have nineteen books on Amazon. In Autumn 2018 I published Legacy, the final book in the post apocalyptic Project Renova series. The other books in the series are Tipping Point, Lindisfarne, UK2, and Patient Zero, a collection of short stories about some of the characters.

My newest book is Hope, a dystopian/psychological drama set 10-12 years in the future. I have several more to-be-written ideas up my sleeve, too!

Earlier books: The Devil You Know is a psychological thriller based around a serial killer, and Best Seller is a satirical tale based on the modern publishing industry. Kings and Queens, Last Child and The House of York are modern day re-tellings of historical periods in the Tudor and Plantagenet eras. The rest come under the general banner of contemporary fiction/family drama/romantic suspense.

Terry’s social media links ~  Twitter  | Goodreads | Facebook | Website | Book Review Blog