The Transition

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Black Mirror meets David Nicholls in this dark and funny novel about love in dystopian times

LONGLISTED FOR THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE FOR FICTION

Karl has let his debts get wildly out of control and, in desperation, has sort of semi-accidentally committed credit-card fraud. Now he could have to go to prison, so when he and his wife Genevieve are instead offered a place on a mysterious self-improvement scheme called The Transition, they agree. It's only six months, after all, and at first all it requires is that they give up their credit cards and move into the spare room of their 'mentors', Janna and Stu, who seem perfectly lovely . . .

'Very funny' William Boyd, Guardian best summer reads 2018

'A total page-turner' Nathan Filer , author of The Shock of the Fall

'The sort of book that has you walking blindly through seven lanes of traffic with your face pressed obliviously to the page' The Times

'Very funny, compassionate and scathing. Just the ticket for fans of Jonathan Coe' Laline Paull, author of The Bees

'Richly enjoyable, tenderly devastating' Guardian

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

In this bleak portrait of where modern societal structures might be steering us, Karl has been offered a chance at redemption after one of his gig-economy jobs tangled him up with a criminal enterprise. He can stay out of prison if he and his wife choose to be mentored by a couple working for the Transition, an organization with government funding and an armor-plated contract. For six months, they'll be coached by their mentors in the areas of employment, nutrition, responsibility, relationships, finances, and self-respect. What transpires is a life suddenly laden with paranoia and fear digging into the worst aspects of the digital age, mental illness, gaslighting, gentrification, wealth divisions, and uncaring corporate "help." Karl finds himself vacillating between trying to complete his time with the system and chasing the hints that all is not right with it. All the while he is watching as his wife is encouraged to go without the medication for her bipolar disorder and heads toward a breakdown that no one else is willing to see coming. Kennard does well at evoking a new, decentralized Big Brother The ever-present anxiety Karl feels is well conveyed by reader Joe Gaminara's understated performance. VERDICT Highly recommended for fans of suspense, classic dystopias, futurists, and sf. ["The writing is deft, and there is humor but always under a cloud of ominous possibilities. It's a cautionary tale, to be sure, supportive of the idea 'if it's too good to be true, it probably isn't'": LJ 12/17 review of the Farrar hc.]-Tristan Boyd, Austin, TX © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.