The Feed

January 15, 2018
This heavily speculative postapocalyptic thriller complicates a basic what-if question—what if the internet were connected directly to people’s brains?—with somewhat ad hoc plot developments. When the brain-linking global network called the Feed collapsed, it took society with it. Six years later, Tom and Kate, a couple with a history of going “slow” (disconnecting from the Feed), struggle to get a viable survivor community going, and partial memories and rare hard-copy texts are their only sources of vital information. When their daughter, Bea, is kidnapped by outlaws who drive a horse-drawn, spike-covered minivan, Tom and Kate must quest through the new wilderness of abandoned suburbs and wreck-jammed highways, dealing with other suspicious survivors and settlements run by people whose original identities were overwritten through their Feed implants while they slept. Debut novelist Windo makes the loss of modern society very personal, with close portraits of how his characters are worn down by the basic work of premodern life. Unfortunately, his tendency to layer in greater and greater revelations breaks the sense of intimacy that comes from focusing on his forsaken internet addicts. Perhaps ironically, readers will struggle to connect with this novel. Agent: Sasha Raskin, United Talent Agency.

Author Windo and narrator Clare Corbett emphasize the complicated emotional journeys in this disjointed story. Together they craft a compelling human drama within a technological dystopia. Tom and his pregnant wife, Kate, inhabit a world governed by the Feed, a highly evolved social media platform implanted directly into the brain. When the Feed is violently destroyed, civilization collapses, leaving survivors in a society in which even language must be relearned. When their daughter disappears, Tom and Kate must brave the world outside their enclave, where no one can be trusted. Corbett shines in her narration, capturing Kate's vulnerabilities while emphasizing her growing, if quiet, strength. Windo renders Tom's divided loyalties and fearsome determination, leaving listeners wondering just how far he'll go to ensure his family's safety. B.E.K. � AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

Starred review from February 15, 2018

Welcome to the Feed, a global information network that links and enables people to live in a world of constant communication where they have the ability to know others' thoughts and feelings. Tom and Kate are part of the Feed, but Tom resists becoming addicted, even though his father created the system. His reluctance eventually serves him and Kate on the fateful day when the Feed collapses after a horrible tragedy. What happens after everyone is cut off from technology and constant connectivity? Simple situations, like shopping for food, are now complex, even life-threatening, and when Tom and Kate's six-year-old daughter Bea disappears, their struggle to find her will reveal more than they ever imagined. VERDICT This thought-provoking debut shines a speculative light on the subjects of connection, disconnection, and identity in a not-so-distant digital age. The fast pace and absorbing plot will keep readers racing to the end.--Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2018
Think The Road intricately wrapped around Station 11 with a dash of Oryx and Crake.First-time British novelist Clark Windo pushes all the right buttons in this post-apocalyptic mashup. Imagine a world in which everyone has the Feed implanted in their brains. The internet and all it offers is yours in seconds. No need to read, no need to even talk; people can even access other's thoughts. Tom Hatfield, a psychotherapist, and his pregnant wife, Kate, a teacher, are eating in a restaurant in, maybe, England. Tom's father had something to do with creating the Feed. Tech-speak abounds: "emotis," "adrenalspike," "ent." Suddenly, there are "gasps and a gabble of confused words actually vocalized out in the real." Everyone is bombarded with the news, something about an Arctic-South war; President Taylor is assassinated. The Collapse has occurred. Smoke pours in, there are distant detonations, "birds...sprayed upwards...machines hurtled from the sky" and then, "under the booms," there is the "approaching sound of silence." The Feed vanishes. Jump ahead six years. Something has killed millions of people. Tom, Kate, 6-year-old Bea, and a few others are living in huts in a grim, desolate camp. The time frame is uncertain; seasons pass. They have to forage for food. They have to watch each other sleep, otherwise they're "taken over."(Think Invasion of the Body Snatchers.) If that does happen, they'll need to be killed. Tom had to kill his brother. People have to relearn everything in order to survive, even language, and talk to each other. Bea is abducted. They head out to find her. Something's wrong with Kate. The twisty, slowly unwinding tale is laid out in tiny bits and pieces of information. The characters aren't very well-developed. Windo demands quite a bit from the reader, and some might give up on this trip.There's a smart and provocative story in here somewhere, but Clark Windo's pedestrian prose and overdone narrative tricks smother it.

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March 1, 2018
The Feed knows what people think and personalizes every product to meet individual needs. Then, suddenly that interconnectivity is gone, and civilization is thrown into chaos. Despite being the son of its founder, Tom Hatfield had resisted the Feed and encouraged his wife, Kate, to fight its addictive thrall. At the time of the collapse, Kate was pregnant, and Tom's resistance helped them escape the chaos to join a small group in the mountains. Seven years later, they still face a continual struggle to raise their daughter, Bea, and rediscover basic survival skills such as farming, generating electricity, even how to write. They have also learned to keep a strict eye on each other and those around them. The Feed left a lurking mental invasion that can take sleeping people, usually leading to wanton violence. When Bea is kidnapped, Tom abandons their haven determined to do whatever he must to find his daughter, but he can never know whom to trust. Sf fans pondering the next step in consumer tracking should enjoy debut author Windo's what if? dystopian scenario.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)