- A man and a girl traverse a deserted, isolated terrain in a post-apocalyptic world. He tells his story to a ‘comrade’ they meet along the way, a story about his father, mother, wife and child, and their very rustic lifestyle.
- Over generations what is left of humanity has suffered extreme and highly dangerous weather. Their summers were spent in underground bunkers to escape the mid-fifty degree days. Even winter days averaged mid-thirties. Huge storms, floods and bushfires were common, and hailstones were fist-sized, frequently destroying houses, sheds and crops.
- A few hundred years ago the world suffered 'The Terror' brought about by fossil fuel caused climate change. What remains of humanity lives in diminished cities and small communities, referred to as 'hams'. There is no money or commerce, only trading in goods and services. Homes and vehicles are rare and powered by home-made batteries.
- He was captured by an eco movement of disruptors (the Service) at the age of 17, and trained in the way of the real world to operate against the 'Dirty World'. He becomes an ‘operator’, sworn to secrecy. Their job is to destroy the wealthy inheritors of fossil fuel corporations, kill all of them and their children and servants. It's a murderous agenda, fuelled by anger and revenge.
- The operations were alway dangerous, and many of his colleagues died. Winton describes them in graphic detail. The Utah, Exxon, and Gulf of Oman eliminations were highly dangerous, highly risky, and many of his colleagues were killed.
- He eventually suffered severe depression, taking a major toll on his young family.
- I've read most of Tim Winton's books over the decades and was frankly getting tired of his focus on seashores and surfers. But this novel is absolutely a radical and passionate departure from that homey terrain. It is brilliantly written in prose full of inventive and imaginative descriptions. And it is unsparing in its condemnation of our current global heating denial.
(This would make a great TV series)
