NEON EMPIRE

In Minh’s (Nomad X, 2012) sci-fi novel set in the near future, a filmmaker’s missing wife is accused of terrorism, and he searches for her at the adults-only resort she envisioned—a Las Vegas–style city governed by social media.

Cedric Travers’ directing career faded when YouTubers made Hollywood movies obsolete. Now, circa 2027, he seems more dispirited than dismayed that his estranged wife, Mila Webb, has vanished. She masterminded Eutopia, a resort metropolis built on Native American land and re-creating, with high-tech kitsch, the ambiance of a past Europe; the real, war-torn Europe no longer gets many tourists. Visitors and transient inhabitants of Eutopia include leading social media “influencers” and wannabe celebrities who monetize their stays by livestreaming their experiences—including outbreaks of crime and violence that seem suspiciously staged. Mila’s disappearance has a connection to a brutal bombing of the local, fake Louvre. Travers enters the city to find answers and plunges into its intrigue and artifice. He also dallies with social media femmes fatales, such as Sacha Villanova, a snooping investigative reporter, and A’rore, a cyborg supermodel who’s Eutopia’s “main influencer.” There are cameos of real-life figures, such as former boxer Floyd Mayweather and Donald Trump’s son, Barron, but the author’s sure, steady voice seldom ventures into satire. However, the missing-Mila plotline, which seems tailor-made for cybernoir, evaporates into a click-thru world obsessed with ads, emojis, analytics, fame, youth, and materialism. This bracing story is a great ride, overall, even if the ending offers little resolution. But the cutting-edge tech has a short sell-by date; time will tell whether this novel ages as well as, for example, past futuristic narratives about incredible secrets hidden on floppy disks.

Sci-fi fans will want to read this story of #SocialMediaDystopianism before it becomes a reality.