A vintage spy drama updated for the modern world, Ed O’Loughlin’s This Eden blends pacy, globe-trotting adventures with old-school suspense and misdirection to form a gripping tale of industrial espionage, subtle social manipulation and an insidious threat. Michael Atarian is a quiet, unexceptional student who just wants to become an engineer, to have a simple life building roads and bridges. He tries to steer clear of his girlfriend Alice’s politics, doesn’t understand the strange digital landscape she inhabits, but when Alice mysteriously disappears he finds himself unwillingly drawn into her world. Out of his depth in Silicon Valley, he meets the willfully cryptic war-gamer Towse and persuasive, manipulative spy Aoife, who drag him further out of his comfort zone, into a dangerous mission to avert a strangely ambiguous technological disaster.
This has many of the hallmarks of a modern adventure thriller – exotic locations, a sinister tech entrepreneur with more ambition than morals, dangers lurking around every corner – but it delivers them in a low-key, subtle fashion that emphasises character over action, and suspense over bombast. There are no heroics here, no dramatic all-guns-blazing set-pieces. Instead it’s a story filled with constant tension and characters never knowing who to trust or when to relax, in which Michael – baffled, out of his depth, frequently angry and unhappy – is constantly forced into situations for which he’s utterly unprepared. Aoife and Towse are little help to him, Aoife highly capable but barely more in control than Michael, and Towse intentionally, frustratingly ambiguous. As the trio cross continents and narrowly avoid capture at every turn, Michael’s and Aoife’s backstories are teased out and contextualised, the two of them growing closer but remaining suspicious all the while.
The central mystery of the plot – who Towse is, what he wants, why he’s got Michael involved and what the looming technological doomsday event actually entails – is slowly, carefully revealed over time. While events are consistently gripping and page turning, it takes a little patience and perseverance before things start to truly make sense, but when that happens, (no spoilers) it does all come together nicely in a very contemporary, topical way, helped by some clever observations on some of the very specific realities of life as it is right now. What’s more, the way the plot is woven in with the characters of Michael and Aoife – both very different on the surface but perhaps more alike in truth than they realise – along with the faint presence of Michael’s vanished girlfriend Alice, means it always feels as though new layers are being uncovered, and the scope of Towse’s manipulation further revealed.
It’s a story about secrets breeding secrets, about the strange bonds that tie people together, about the dangers of technology and the difficulty of trusting one another. There’s an overarching sense of ambiguity that feels entirely appropriate, although some readers might find a little frustrating, but it fits in nicely with the idea of Towse as the mysterious puppet master, and the overall feel of an old-school spy thriller. What really ties the whole thing together though, is O’Loughlin’s genuinely beautiful writing, from the wonderful way he brings his locations to life to the deft characterisation with which he explores the unusual dynamic between his characters. While Michael is at the heart of the story, both Aoife and Alice (when she’s there, at the beginning) have crucial parts to play, and are brought to life with fascinating viewpoints and very similar senses of imagination.
It’s not a book that’s going to be for everyone, not least due to O’Loughlin’s unwillingness to provide information up-front, which occasionally means it’s a little tricky to follow exactly what’s going on. He also takes an unusual approach to dialogue, with none of the usual dialogue tags or even speech marks – a deliberate stylistic choice which makes sense in the end, fitting in nicely with where the plot ends up, but does take a little getting used to. It won’t necessarily fit the bill for readers wanting a fun, easy thriller, but its stylish, characterful, beautifully written and thought-provoking blend of genres will likely hit the spot for readers keen to see the classic tense, suspenseful spy novel brought up to date into the modern high-tech world. For those readers, it’s an absolute delight.
Many thanks to Quercus/Riverrun and Ed O’Loughlin for providing me with an advance copy of This Eden in exchange for my honest review.
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