LIVING FOREVER CAN BE LETHAL…

Ruth is a law-abiding elder, working out her national service, but she hassecrets. Her tireless research into the disease that killed her young daughter had an unexpected outcome: the discovery of a vaccine against old age. Just one jab a year reverses your biological clock, guaranteeing a long, healthy life.

But Ruth’s cure was hijacked by her colleague, Erik Grundleger, who hungers for immortality, and the SuperJuve – a premium upgrade – was created, driving human lifespan to a new high. The wealthy elite who take it are dubbed Supers, and the population begins to skyrocket.

#TheCure X/Twitter @evecsmith
#RandomThingsTours @annecater  @RandomTTours #bookX #booktwitter 
Instagram @evesmithauthor @randomthingstours #bookstagram #blogtour

Then, a perilous side-effect of the SuperJuve emerges, with catastrophic consequences, and as the planet is threatened, the population rebels, and laws are passed to restore order: life ends at 120. Supers are tracked down by Omnicide investigators like Mara … and executed…

Mara has her own reasons for hunting Supers, and she forms an unlikely alliance with Ruth to find Grundleger. But Grundleger has been working on something even more radical and is one step ahead, with a deadly surprise in store for them both…

My Review

I’m so out of my comfort zone here. Firstly, I don’t usually read speculative fiction, sci-fi or dystopian future novels. And secondly, I don’t think this is entirely fiction, which is terrifying.

I remember reading some time ago (may have been Sir David Attenborough) that seven billion was the tipping point for our population. We’ve already passed that and those of us with half a brain know the earth is in trouble. But then we have another issue. We want to eradicate the diseases that mostly come with ageing, like cancer, heart disease and dementia. That would enable people to live to a ripe old age, and not merely ‘exist’. Because no-one wants to die, much less in pain and confusion. Much of this has to do with the demise of religion in the west, as we no longer believe we are going to a better place up there (hopefully up not down).

Sixty years ago, Ruth’s daughter Lettie suffered from a rare, progressive genetic disorder called Progeria syndrome. It starts when the sufferers are toddlers and they are unlikely to live past their teens. They visibly age rapidly and there is no cure. When Lettie dies age ten, Ruth is trying to develop a vaccine that can stop the ageing process.

Too late for Lettie, but eventually she succeeds. Only it has an unexpected outcome – it can reverse the ageing process in adults. Now everyone can be healthy and happy into their 80s, 90s, even 100s. Well whoopy do! Who wouldn’t want that? We’d all want it. One simple injection a year and we’d never get sick and look thirty-five at 90. But the population would explode, and the old would outstrip the young. We’d need more housing, there would be no green spaces, no wildlife, just concrete.

Look to now, (or in the future in this case), and that’s exactly what has happened. Ruth’s ex-colleague Erik Grundleger wants to live forever. He’s hi-jacked her research and created a SuperJuve vaccine which keeps you young for decades. It’s very expensive – of course – so only available to the super rich who become known as Supers.

Twenty-five-year-old Mara is an investigator for Omnicide. She is sharp and as hard as nails, and seeks out Supers for extermination. Those of us old enough will remember the film Logan’s Run. Everyone has to die at a set age – in this case 30 (in The Cure it’s 120!) – by going to ‘Carousel’ to be exterminated. Logan is a ‘Sandman’, who hunts down escapees in order to execute them (but he’s nearly 30 and we can guess the rest).

Mara is determined to find Grundleger and his mates including Jeff Busk (I love the name – think about it) and others. In order to do so she finds herself thrown together with Ruth – now 115 and close to her ‘transcendence’ where you peacefully end your own life, your way, at your own funeral (not good for Pure Cremation). And it’s compulsory.

I’m waffling on now – you must be getting bored of me – so read the book. It’s absolutely brilliant and horrifying. But the answer – well I really don’t know.

Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours

About the Author

Eve Smith writes speculative thrillers, mainly about the things that scare her. Longlisted for the Not the Booker Prize and described by Waterstones as ‘an exciting new voice in crime fiction’, Eve’s debut novel, The Waiting Rooms, set in the aftermath of an antibiotic resistance crisis, was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize First Novel Award and was a Book of the Month in the Guardian, who compared her writing to Michael Crichton’s. It was followed by Off-Target, about a world where genetic engineering of children is routine, and ONE, about survival in a world ravaged by climate change. Eve’s previous job at an environmental charity took her to research projects across Asia, Africa and the Americas, and she has an ongoing passion for wild creatures, wild science and far-flung places. She lives in Oxfordshire with her family.

About Orenda Books

Orenda Books is a small independent publishing company specialising in literary fiction with a heavy emphasis on crime/thrillers, and approximately half the list in translation. They’ve been twice shortlisted for the Nick Robinson Best Newcomer Award at the IPG awards, and publisher and owner Karen Sullivan was a Bookseller Rising Star in 2016. In 2018, they were awarded a prestigious Creative Europe grant for their translated books programme. Three authors, including Agnes Ravatn, Matt Wesolowski and Amanda Jennings have been WHSmith Fresh Talent picks, and Ravatn’s The Bird Tribunal was shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award, won an English PEN Translation Award, and adapted for BBC Radio Four ’s Book at Bedtime. Six titles have been short- or long-listed for the CWA Daggers. Launched in 2014 with a mission to bring more international literature to the UK market, Orenda Books publishes a host of debuts, many of which have gone on to sell millions worldwide, and looks for fresh, exciting new voices that push the genre in new directions. Bestselling authors include Ragnar Jonasson, Antti Tuomainen, Gunnar Staalesen, Michael J. Malone, Kjell Ola Dahl, Louise Beech, Johana Gustawsson, Lilja Sigurðardóttir and Sarah Stovell.