Fiction Reviews
The Cure
(2025) Eve Smith, Orenda Books, £9.99, pbk, 309pp, ISBN 978-1-916-78854-1
The Cure explores some interesting what-ifs, and wraps it all up in a tightly plotted, adventure mystery. What if you could live forever? Would you? And if you did, what would be the implications for an overcrowded world?
Ruth is a scientist who accidentally discovers a cure for ageing, but she’s quickly sold out by an exploitative business partner (Erik Grundleger) who commoditises her process, despite his Superjuve upgrade causing aggressive psychosis. The basic longevity model requires regular injections but the Superjuve eliminates that need – but results in power and wealth becoming concentrated on the increasingly healthy old and the planet’s green spaces almost completely disappearing to manage a snowballing population growth. In this dystopian future, with graveyards paved over and families squeezed tight in shared flats, euthanasia becomes compulsory at 120 and the Superjuve is outlawed, though some those who have taken it, the Supers, have evade capture and elimination and are plotting a way to introduce immortality in the womb. Ruth, who introduced the regular injection requirement in the original process as a safeguard, is appalled by the implications of immortality for all, and teams up with the authorities to stop Grundleger. But she’s got to find him first…
This is a well-written story combining some big themes with interesting characters and a cohesive, action-focused plot. But what would happen if immortality became possible? Like The Cure, the rich and powerful would be first in line, I’m sure, but unlike in The Cure I doubt it would be so readily offered to the general population, no matter what the healthcare implications of an ever-youthful population might be. And, (barely hinted at in The Cure) surely there’d be a disparity between developed and developing nations, with international tensions rising as a result. In other words, the rich would thrive and the poor would die – so maybe the issue would not be overpopulation but be in the concentration of power amongst the old and the effect that would have on younger generations who see opportunities for them blocked by incumbent oldies. And I don’t buy that in an overpopulated world we wouldn’t have spread off-world, on sea or under the oceans, none of which is explored here. Mainly, though, I was conflicted by the choices on offer. Ruth seems anti-immortality, even though she’s the hero, which makes me instinctively want to side with Grundleger with his promise of eternal life. Why not work to reduces the Superjuve side effects, so that a psychotic Russian president wouldn’t trigger a nuclear exchange, for instance? And why not deal with population pressures by expansion across the solar system and beyond? Nevertheless, this is an engaging and thought provoking narrative with some strong ideas - recommended.
Mark Bilsborough
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