Prophet (2023) by Sin Blache and Helen MacDonald

 Book Review

Prophet (2023)

by Sin Blache and Helen MacDonald

  I never read H is for Hawk, the 2014 falconry memoir turned surprise best-seller, but I darn sure saw it nearly everywhere- and still do, for that matter.  H is for Hawk is still in print, and its still selling.  As far as I'm aware (not very) all of her books have been non-fiction type stuff about birds.  So when I read- in the Guardian I think- that MacDonald's newest book was a techno-sci-fi-lgbt-thriller- I was intrigued.  Who had that on their 2023 bingo card:  Helen MacDonald sci-fi techo thriller?

   Not really a cross-over you expect to see at the highest level of literary fiction or literary fiction genre cross-over.  I have to say- the genre elements are quite strong here- if you look at the cover art, for example.  I listened to the Audiobook, and it sounds like a straight-forward, albeit bizarre, techno-sci-fi-thriller written by a top-flight author of non-fiction works about birds that have found a huge mainstream audience.    The essence of the book is the relationship between Sunil Rao- a self-destructive London born "human lie detector"- he is able to determine the truth value of any statement and Rubenstein- a steely Jewish-American jack of all trades for the CIA.

   The story begins in the fields of rural England, where a 50's style American diner has appeared in the middle of an English pasture on a US military installation located in the English countryside.  Rao, lately of HMS prison, is summoned by the American military to assist in the investigation.  There he is tasked a handler- Rubenstein- they've worked before. Rao has just, an incredible amount of LGBT back story- like it feels like half the book is Rao explaining himself and his backstory. 

  The thing they've invented for the novel- a drug (or is it a drug?) called Prophet- is a very interesting proposition and what starts out as a crazy drug turns into a substance that may cross dimensions and contain some kind of sentience.  There were plot elements that left me scratching my head, but in light of the obvious literary fiction pedigree any reader has to give the authors vast artistic license to diverge from genre bound expectations regarding plot development in the context of a sci-fi thriller type book.

   Maybe a Hugo Prize Winner?