DARK AGENDAS OF POWER

In Glenn’s thriller, a Europe-based conspiracy schemes to control the world economy and impose totalitarianism in the wake of the Covid pandemic.

The author inaugurates a series of geopolitical (accent on political) near-future thrillers with this “what-if” tale. Following the 2020s quarantines and lockdowns, unelected European elites form the New Economic Order, also known as the Global Economic Union, ostensibly to safely shepherd society back to normalcy. In reality, it’s an Orwellian socialist cabal, imposing harsh authoritarianism worldwide. Though equally sinister blocs in China and Russia do not cooperate, the United States’ effete liberals and shrill leftist media push the GEU agenda (“The propaganda had been there all that time: equality, income inequality, the Marxist recasting of freedom in a new light of needs only, white guilt, universal basic income and demonization of the rich”). America is soon overrun with police-state surveillance and Big Brother indoctrination at universities—allegedly fighting climate change, mass shootings, homophobia, and other social ills while instituting jackbooted fascism. In Arizona, a secret resistance is run from the arcology, a self-sufficient, experimental city outpost off the electric grid dedicated to “libertarian Municipalism and anarcho-capitalism.” Here, freedom-loving Cory Bryson runs armed security and preps for inevitable attack by GEU stormtroopers. Bryson is joined by Amit Rubin, an Israeli general’s daughter—Israel being the only democracy gutsy enough to defy the GEU. The action is fast and furious when not being interrupted by pro-Second Amendment arguments, citations of authors and thinkers who shaped the author’s outlook, takedowns of Woodrow Wilson and FDR, and general Red State philosophizing (as in: Bible prophecy foretold lots of this). Glenn’s gifts for virile characterization, pacing, and combat scenes fail to establish any meaningful personalities for the villains; the GEU are colorless nasties and mercenaries. His style is well-suited to the quaint Yankee notion (popular in cautionary late-19th/early-20th century dystopian SF novels) of Europe as a breeding ground for tyranny. Future installments in the saga will doubtlessly offer more op-ed grist for the Glenn Beck–listening readership.

Powerfully opinionated near-future SF mixes action, skullduggery, and conservative values.