Tex Collins has been a CPL (Civil Protection League) officer for thirty years, ever since the founding of the colony of Aurealia. Now, though, he would like to retire. All he needs is a little cash to fund his dream. But in the new world, after the near anihilation of the planet, extra cash is hard to come by. Desperate times, it seems, call for desperate measures.
The Red Book is a chilling tale of an unthinkable future. With nuclear war having wiped out most of the world’s population and most of the Earth’s surface now uninhabitable, the city of Aurealis is the last frontier of civililzation. But places in Aurealia are limited. Only those with a prized red book may enter. The rest are kept away by the CPL.
This is a story with great potential which doesn’t quite make it, because of problems with tense and a narration which is often pages and pages of telling with little action. This is unfortunate because when the action can be found is has the potential to be gripping.
Despite these shortcomings, the book does manage to paint a bleak picture of one possible future, and makes some telling observations about politics (both present and future).
The Red Book, by Chris Devir
Red Book Publishing, 2004