“The Flood” by Stephen Merkley: this impressive novel which tells of our near future will shake more than one person

Let’s admit it, it takes a little time to get your bearings and get to know the different characters who pull the threads of this dystopian narrative: climate scientist Tony Pietrus, environmental activist Kate Morris, algorithm whiz Ashir al-Hasan, the drug addict Keeper and the eco-terrorist Shane Acosta. As climate change increasingly disrupts the daily lives of Americans, all these actors will be faced with a point of no return. This, while threads will little by little weave between them.

Hyperrealism

Floods, fires, sandstorms, rising temperatures, unprecedented snowfall, water shortage, persistent drought, spread of tropical viruses, famine… The picture is striking, and the hyperrealism demonstrated by the author of the very REMARK Ohio (2020) is all the more effective as it is part of the narrative length. Everything is very dark in The Flood, especially since successive governments fail to take the necessary measures. That the political horse-trading never seems to end. May money continue to be the ogre that it is. That the creation of narratives by unscrupulous communicators misleads the less enlightened. And the media definitely don’t help us see things clearly.

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Skillfully relying on the evolution of characters who are shaken by what they experience as much as by who they are, Stephen Markley does not shy away from asking ethical questions. How far should radical ecoterrorism go? Can we always rely on the energy and motivation of the new generation? Is it reasonable to have children? What are the most effective sources of activism: altruism or personal ambition? With half of Americans facing starvation, who should be saved first?

If living conditions become dramatically complicated, throwing countless climate migrants in search of refuge and favoring those who have the means to settle in protected places while paying astronomical insurance premiums, the stranglehold still remains The more pervasive impact of artificial intelligence on our lives adds a layer of terror. “We operate in Washington as if it were still a free city, but there is not a word, not a gesture, not a website, a photo or a sneeze that is not recorded, classified and subject to review by public and private AI.”

Cooperation

So, AIs are now reconstructing people’s psyches, monitoring or hacking everyone, when they are not predicting behavior. Voters are easily manipulated. “Algorithms decide where to invest so that energy remains affordable, markets work and the economy runs […]”. However, humans remain human, and this is undoubtedly their opportunity. Because if danger can arise from inconstant, egocentric or opportunistic behavior, hope can always be born from outstretched hands, from commitments, from generosity , of desires This is how Stephen Markley suggests that it will never be too late to do well. As Kate Morris predicts, one of the unprecedented experiments in the history of humanity that we are facing. is cooperation between humans, which will require “democracy, organization, compassion, and the will and ability to face the emergency, hand in hand, all together.”

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Whether it is geopolitics, science, technology or finance, Stephen Markley, who has extensively documented himself and worked for ten years writing this extraordinary novel, is as serious in his assertions as accessible. Carried away as much by a fast-paced narration that varies genres as by the depth and complexity of the characters, we almost forget the high intellectual standing of the work. This is an unmistakable sign.

⇒ Stephen Markley | The flood | translated from English (United States) by Charles Recoursé | Albin Michel | 1041 pp., €24.90