TO KEEP US ALL SAFE

Conspiracy, corruption, and a worldwide pandemic drive one ordinary man to risk everything to expose unbelievable truths in Ford’s satirical novel.

A global pandemic called Chimapox has put the world on lockdown. Businesses are shuttering their windows, workers are losing their jobs, and people of all ages are dying. Jim Mollett, an ecologist recently returned to the outskirts of London after nearly ten years in Vietnam, spends his days caring for his Uncle Tommy and Auntie Edith; they exist in what’s known as a bubble, a tiny community in which members may only have contact with each other for fear of spreading the virus. Flanked by affable neighbor Alfie and niggling landlady Marjorie, Jim spends his days working from home, taking long walks, and avoiding the Lockdown Patrol volunteers. This monotonous and structured existence is interrupted when Jim meets Lily, a free-spirited, self-proclaimed witch to whom Jim is instantly attracted. Their eyes are opened to a web of conspiracies and lies when Jim stumbles upon an anti-vaccination protest. The protestors assert that the new Chimapox vaccines cause disease and that Sir Albyn Denbald—the billionaire “business tycoon” at the head of Vestral Health—wants to control the population by rendering women infertile. Jim finds himself at the center of a volatile movement when he aligns himself with the anti-vaccination protesters and vows to discover the truth about Denbald, Chimapox, and the so-called “plandemic” (along with various theories about 5G networks, microchips, and lizard people). His once mundane existence is now enlivened by espionage, witches’ covens, evading law enforcement—and, of course, arguing with people on the internet. Ford has crafted a thinly veiled metaphor for the Covid-19 pandemic with levity and self-referential humor. The characters’ experiences with Chimapox are both realistic and exaggerated; the novel offers a comical blend of 2020’s real-life paranoia and Orwell’s 1984 (1949). The narrative is well plotted and evenly paced, and no sentence is wasted; each chapter has its purpose. While none of the characters are particularly likable, they effectively function as mirrors for both liberals and conservatives. Ford’s imaginary pandemic is at once humorous and frustrating, grounded and hyperbolic.

A clear-eyed satire that explores the implications of the Covid-19 pandemic.