Dave Hutchinson (1) (1960–)

I started ‘Europe in Autumn’ because [b:A Fine Balance|5211|A Fine Balance|Rohinton Mistry|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386925449s/5211.jpg|865827] is proving terribly sad and I wanted to read something that was less of a downer. It certainly filled that role, but proved to be a rather odd, hard to categorise book. A good three-quarters of the pages are devoted essentially to setting up the main character and his milieu, then the final quarter presents the reader with a massive and extraordinary conspiracy, ending on a cliffhanger that invites a sequel ([b:Europe at Midnight|26009702|Europe at Midnight (Fractured Europe Sequence, #2)|Dave Hutchinson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1438269006s/26009702.jpg|45928890]). This was not really what I expected. The blurb suggests a politically focused near-future novel set in disintegrating Europe. Given that the EU referendum in the UK is two months away, this seemed pretty timely. The depiction of micro-states and general political chaos is really enjoyable, my favourite aspect of the whole thing in fact. The civil war between tower blocks run by a football hooligan mafia is especially memorable. There are also some great world-building details, like ten pound coins and a cloth laptop. I’d love one of the latter, despite the ergonomic challenges it might pose.

Our main character, Rudi, works for a shadowy espionage organisation that prides itself on moving information, people, and anything else across Europe’s myriad new borders. I decided pretty early on that this so-called Central had to be a google side-project. Not that this is actually stated, but in situations of melting down governance, multinational corporations immediately take advantage. Rudi’s adventures are pretty engaging and he is a laconic and largely sympathetic, albeit rather bland, narrator. The point of view switches that periodically occurred seemed to be taking a shortcut to create mystery, though, which was slightly trying. The puff quotes included on the copy I read compared the book to le Carré and Kafka, which seemed ridiculous to me as both were name-checked in the text itself. When a character reflects that their situation is Kafka-esque, or that their employer thinks they’re in a le Carré novel, it doesn’t mean that their narrative resembles either writer! The psychological astuteness and sense of paranoid tension that le Carré is so masterly at were not present, neither was Kafka’s uniquely nightmarish sense of being trapped by an unknowable system. The odd arbitrary event does not a Kafka make. In fact, ‘Europe in Autumn’ gradually develops a standard thriller plot in which Our Hero uncovers a conspiracy that only he can unmask. While a certain amount remains unclear about this conspiracy by the end, there is still quite a bit of explanation. In terms of style, there were shades of Kurt Vonnegut at first (Rudi often seemed to shrug in a 'So It Goes' kind of fashion, before apparently deciding to become an action hero). In terms of substance, I was reminded a little of [b:The City & the City|4703581|The City & the City|China Miéville|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1320475957s/4703581.jpg|4767909] by China Mieville.

I’m being quite critical here, probably because I thought this novel would turn into one thing (examination of the socio-political implications of Europe disassembling itself) and, after starting off promisingly in that direction, it went a very different way in rather incomplete fashion. The abrupt ending surely wasn’t necessary - the whole thing is only 317 pages long, so why not edit the initial three-quarters down a bit then graft on the sequel? Presumably that gets into unravelling the conspiracy. Despite there being many details to enjoy about ‘Europe in Autumn’, however, I’m not sure I’ll bother with [b:Europe at Midnight|26009702|Europe at Midnight (Fractured Europe Sequence, #2)|Dave Hutchinson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1438269006s/26009702.jpg|45928890]. For one thing, this future Europe seems astonishingly lacking in female characters. Perhaps they were practically all wiped out in the flu pandemic mentioned. If so, the remaining men seem remarkably sanguine about this demographic imbalance. Or it’s lazy writing. Either way, it got on my nerves. Such an interesting setting deserves a better paced plot and either Rudi as sole narrator or a wider range of points of view. The micro-politics of chaotic Eastern Europe were appealing enough without recourse to fantastical conspiracy and spies shooting each other.… (more)

Very short novel (less than 100 pages according to my ebook reader). It's an intriguing space opera about an "outlaw" community based on genetic manipulation that tries to avoid detection by the main human civilization. The readers are dropped right in and it takes a while before they understand what the setting is like and what the plot is about. The process is a bit too slow, perhaps, as it takes almost half the book. However, it's interesting enough, and in the second half the pace of the story quickens and it ends with a good twist. Recommended.… (more)

Europe in Autumn; Europe at Midnight; Europe in Winter ~ Dave Hutchinson

The first book in this ‘Fractured Europe’ series was recommended to me by a friend, and I bought it as a ebook for a few dollars. Then I rapidly went out and bought the second. The third, maddeningly, wasn’t yet released, but I placed it on pre-order and it arrived a couple of weeks ago.

So I read these three books in a matter of a few weeks. And then I turned around and immediately read them all through again from cover to cover, and I’m glad I did — so much I had missed or not understood now became clear(er). But even now I’m not sure that I fully understand what has been going on, and I’m wondering if there will be a fourth or fifth book in the series which may reveal more. Talk about ‘a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma’! (A not-inappropriate quotation, as it turns out).

Where to start? Well, first we have to set the scene, which is the near-term future in Europe after the European Union has essentially broken up back into its individual nations. But the rot hasn’t stopped there, and there’s a wave of independent nations, principalities or ‘polities’ breaking off from those nations, as regional and ethnic loyalties come to the fore. This reaches an almost absurd degree, with in some cases a few blocks of some cities declaring their independence. The whole concept of the Schengen Treaty of doing away with borders in Europe is now a sad, half-forgotten joke. Borders and border controls are everywhere.

Even more interesting, a trans-continental railway line has been built from Spain through to Eastern Sibera. On its completion the company promptly declares the railway and the land immediately surrounding it to be sovereign territory, and that the Line is now an independent nation. The Line’s stations are Consulates. One needs a visa to travel on the train, and to become a citizen to work for the Line. The author somehow makes this all seem perfectly rational.

We’re introduced to Rudi, the young Estonian-born chef at Restaurant Max in Kraków, in Poland. Through some shady connections of his boss Max, Rudi is eventually recruited into a shadowy organisation called Les Coureurs de Bois (“the runners of the woods”?). It’s kind of a courier operation, carrying mail and packages from one nation to another — something no longer easy, or even necessarily legal. It’s like a cross between a courier company, a smuggling ring, and an espionage outfit. Most governments heavily disapprove of it.

For most of the first book, we’re learning about Rudi and following him on the various Situations he’s placed in from time to time (while still mostly working as a chef). Some of these go well, a few go wrong, and eventually disastrously wrong. Something very strange is going on, and Rudi finds that he is being hunted and that his life is in danger. All of this (other than the slighly futuristic setting) has the engaging fascination of a spy thriller, or perhaps one of the Jason Bourne movies. Apart from the occasional use of advanced technology like ‘stealth suits’, this all seems barely like science fiction at all.

I can’t describe too much more without spoilers. Suffice it to say that about 80% through the first book, Rudi has finally tracked down what a dying former Coureur tells him is ‘the proof’. It’s in the deciphering of this proof that Rudi discovers a secret which does plunge us into real science fiction territory.

I enjoyed the second book even more than the first, as we encounter the first person narrative of ‘Rupert’ who lives in a vast (really vast) university campus run as a totalitarian regime, which has just undergone a bloody revolution. How this ties in with what Rudi has discovered in the first book takes quite a while to emerge.

It was really worthwhile re-reading the books. So much of what is going on in earlier parts of the narrative is explained by what comes later that you are almost compelled to go back and read those earlier passages again. It’s a tribute to how good the writing is that all three books were just as enjoyable to read again so soon.

Gosh these books are good! Puzzling, challenging, but very good. Written, by someone who seems to know Eastern Europe (and the restaurant trade) very well; very clever plotting; really original concepts; great characterisation. I loved them and look forward to reading more from this author.… (more)

Europe in Autumn; Europe at Midnight; Europe in Winter ~ Dave Hutchinson

The first book in this ‘Fractured Europe’ series was recommended to me by a friend, and I bought it as a ebook for a few dollars. Then I rapidly went out and bought the second. The third, maddeningly, wasn’t yet released, but I placed it on pre-order and it arrived a couple of weeks ago.

So I read these three books in a matter of a few weeks. And then I turned around and immediately read them all through again from cover to cover, and I’m glad I did — so much I had missed or not understood now became clear(er). But even now I’m not sure that I fully understand what has been going on, and I’m wondering if there will be a fourth or fifth book in the series which may reveal more. Talk about ‘a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma’! (A not-inappropriate quotation, as it turns out).

Where to start? Well, first we have to set the scene, which is the near-term future in Europe after the European Union has essentially broken up back into its individual nations. But the rot hasn’t stopped there, and there’s a wave of independent nations, principalities or ‘polities’ breaking off from those nations, as regional and ethnic loyalties come to the fore. This reaches an almost absurd degree, with in some cases a few blocks of some cities declaring their independence. The whole concept of the Schengen Treaty of doing away with borders in Europe is now a sad, half-forgotten joke. Borders and border controls are everywhere.

Even more interesting, a trans-continental railway line has been built from Spain through to Eastern Sibera. On its completion the company promptly declares the railway and the land immediately surrounding it to be sovereign territory, and that the Line is now an independent nation. The Line’s stations are Consulates. One needs a visa to travel on the train, and to become a citizen to work for the Line. The author somehow makes this all seem perfectly rational.

We’re introduced to Rudi, the young Estonian-born chef at Restaurant Max in Kraków, in Poland. Through some shady connections of his boss Max, Rudi is eventually recruited into a shadowy organisation called Les Coureurs de Bois (“the runners of the woods”?). It’s kind of a courier operation, carrying mail and packages from one nation to another — something no longer easy, or even necessarily legal. It’s like a cross between a courier company, a smuggling ring, and an espionage outfit. Most governments heavily disapprove of it.

For most of the first book, we’re learning about Rudi and following him on the various Situations he’s placed in from time to time (while still mostly working as a chef). Some of these go well, a few go wrong, and eventually disastrously wrong. Something very strange is going on, and Rudi finds that he is being hunted and that his life is in danger. All of this (other than the slighly futuristic setting) has the engaging fascination of a spy thriller, or perhaps one of the Jason Bourne movies. Apart from the occasional use of advanced technology like ‘stealth suits’, this all seems barely like science fiction at all.

I can’t describe too much more without spoilers. Suffice it to say that about 80% through the first book, Rudi has finally tracked down what a dying former Coureur tells him is ‘the proof’. It’s in the deciphering of this proof that Rudi discovers a secret which does plunge us into real science fiction territory.

I enjoyed the second book even more than the first, as we encounter the first person narrative of ‘Rupert’ who lives in a vast (really vast) university campus run as a totalitarian regime, which has just undergone a bloody revolution. How this ties in with what Rudi has discovered in the first book takes quite a while to emerge.

It was really worthwhile re-reading the books. So much of what is going on in earlier parts of the narrative is explained by what comes later that you are almost compelled to go back and read those earlier passages again. It’s a tribute to how good the writing is that all three books were just as enjoyable to read again so soon.

Gosh these books are good! Puzzling, challenging, but very good. Written, by someone who seems to know Eastern Europe (and the restaurant trade) very well; very clever plotting; really original concepts; great characterisation. I loved them and look forward to reading more from this author.… (more)