Poor Norwich! A Review of ‘P’ by D. Rudd-Mitchell

P, by D. Rudd-Mitchell, is a short, thought-provoking dystopian novel set a couple of centuries into the future. Chillingly anchored in present day events, the book proposes an inventive – though overwhelmingly unappealing – solution to the climate crisis.

The story follows the progress of Norwich, a low ranking academic, who is unexpectedly chosen by the Party for a clandestine research project. The ramifications of his naïve pursuit of higher knowledge are foreshadowed by the revelation that his former supervisor, the older and wiser Professor Zambia, has never sought such privileges.

Norwich begins his transition to the inner sanctum accompanied by his handler, the unimpressive Henley, who could equally be at home in an early Evelyn Waugh satire. By passing through various levels of security clearance, Norwich gains access to ever more sensitive material buried in the Party’s archive.

Unfortunately for Norwich, there are consequences to being shown things he cannot subsequently unsee. On more than one occasion he is given the opportunity to choose whether or not to continue with his task. Each time, he is manipulated into carrying on without being given the full facts about where he might end up. The selective disclosure throughout the book makes it a page-turner to the end.

Rudd-Mitchell pays tribute to George Orwell in the book’s acknowledgments, ‘who spoke so clearly while nobody listened’. Parallels with Nineteen Eighty-Four are clear, albeit with no love interest to spice things up. The interplay of secrecy, truth and power are familiar territory. P is written in a simple, accessible style which suits the main character’s enduring naivety, and hints that he may occasionally be conversing with an AI.

The bleakness of this fictional world is made more compelling by staging the narrative around the real life global concerns that threaten humanity’s existence. While Rudd-Mitchell’s authoritarian Party ultimately finds a way to keep humankind alive, its methods are terrifying. His tale serves as a salutary warning against complacency to anyone who might take for granted living in a liberal democracy. Poor Norwich has no idea what he is missing.

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P is published by Plastic Brain Press, ISBN13: 9781838166724

Reviewer N.A. (Nicola Rossi) is the author of the dystopian Rockstar Ending series.

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