FOREVER

A brutal Oregon-based community manages to persevere after a nuclear war, but a bizarre traveling evangelist and his machine pose a threat to their way of life in Sparks’ speculative novel.

The tale takes place “somewhere in central Oregon” in the year 2059. People live in the aftermath of a relatively recent nuclear conflict, fought primarily between the United States and Russia over oil. Fortunately, the strategically unimportant Pacific Northwest was spared direct missile hits but not their aftereffects, as evidenced by fallout-mutated, carnivorous wildlife, social anarchy, and scorching daylight that effectively makes nighttime the only time that anyone can survive outdoors. In this nightmarish environment, the town of Forever subsists under a harsh system with a survivalist ethic, and its status quo is maintained under the edicts of autocratic Mayor Fowler. Apparently, only White people are allowed to live within the town’s borders, and women are treated as little more than property. The townsfolk capture giant insects for food, and treaties maintain an uneasy peace with raiders from the desperate, adjacent towns. Stricken refugees who come by in search of sanctuary are almost always turned away to die. However, one newcomer manages to talk his way in. The mysterious wanderer, who goes by the name “Brother Shuttlesworth,” poses as a preacher and hauls a strange machine that he calls “Noah,” which produces a fluid that he claims is divine in origin—and it’s a substance that’s even more appealing in the water-starved environment. Shuttlesworth creates disciples by dispensing the sweet-tasting “Divinity” liquid and by using mass hypnosis.

Sparks’ dystopian thriller is a hybrid of splatterpunk horror and survivalist SF that recalls elements of the works of Dean Koontz and Clive Barker, and its dire events unfold at a fast clip. The characters are highly unsympathetic, and there will be times when readers will wonder whether every person within Forever’s city limits is a sadist and bloodletter; many have been warped by their grim circumstances, causing them to embrace repellent ideas of frontier justice and political economy. The plot relies on more than one convenient deus ex machina—not only the literal machine Noah (whose name is both a biblical reference and an acronym for “Nuclear Ozone Amplifying Hydro-generator”), but also the human Crocker Sullivan. The outcast Forever citizen’s formidable array of inventions and weapons, and access to an underground Eden, set him up as a Tom Swift–ian solution to just about any problem the narrative throws at the various players. Meanwhile, more than one citizen of Forever suspects that Shuttlesworth is a fraud, including Fowler, who turns out to have some skeletons in his closet. However, few of the residents suspect just how monstrous his operation really is. Most of the problems that the townsfolk encounter are sufficiently chilling to keep readers engaged, and the story’s high body count will keep them interested in who makes it alive to the finale, which tentatively opens the door to follow-up installments.

A violent, post-apocalypse SF tale with a hazmat sting.