The Execution Channel by Ken MacLeod

This does sound very intriguing and from Kens previous books I was expecting something good! However this book did not live up to my expectations as it felt like a main stream book style running with the west's current fear of terror or terrorists to sell the book, with the action film to follow within the next year (not really). May be that is a bit rough, as it does stand out as a thought provoking book that some how does feel too close to what reality is or could be very soon.

It's set within the post 9/11 world where terror won so to speak and the world order is different to now, or it's different to now but could be the future within the next couple of years. The United Kingdom has had to overcome many different national challenges and only just survived the flu pandemic. The food crisis has happened and millions of people have been displaced with camps being set-up, does sound like this could already be about started? The USA is struggling to stay as the Ione power with China and Communist India being the powerhouses of the world.

It starts in Scotland with suspected terrorist attack on an air base, but with local activists spotting something odd before the explosion and the chase by the security forces things start to hot up. Another attack on the Grangemouth refinery, then on motorway bridge and the UK goes into meltdown. But the key figures are all involved to some degree with one family playing key roles within it.

I may have said this book was a let down, but that was to my expectations of the author and previous books which I have read. Overall it's a good book, fast moving and partly of twist and turns to keep you hooked. The idea to the ending of this book, comes from another well know science fictions book that it should not fit in with this, but it does and does Ken know something about China we do not.