Inversion - Ludovic Deblois

Ludovic Deblois has previously shown an interest in exploring the dangers of environmental hazards and climate change, and those concerns are present in his latest novel, Inversion. There are however other ways that society can be destroyed and Deblois takes account of some of the most dangerous and immediate threats facing us in this futuristic thriller. It successfully extrapolates on situations that we can recognise around us today and, like the best SF, he considers the worst case scenario where we could conceivably end up if we aren't careful. It takes some leaps and could be accused of heading down conspiracy theory territory, but there is nothing here in Inversion that is beyond possible. And, as the author notes, he is writing this in the hope that if we are more aware of the dangers now, we can take steps to ensure that it doesn't actually happen.

In the year 2041, Thot, an information and social networking system has come to dominate in Europe, a single source of information used by 85% of the population. It's seen as providing secure, reliable and informative data for its citizens. There are concerns in some quarters however that the application is being used to exploit, direct and control European citizens, including pushing them towards career choices and even favourable matches for marriage, removing individual liberties in the interests of securing the needs of the state and keeping the rich and powerful in control. The USA and the CIA particular are concerned as there appears to be Asian and Russian influence, and a Eurasian empire would be the USA's worst nightmare.

There are a few other individuals who come to suspect that the intentions of the European leaders are not entirely benign and purely for the benefit of their citizens. Lucas, an IT technician who has been involved in the development of the Thot system, has been tipped off by an American friend of his father's with connections to the CIA. He is reluctant to believe that there is such a programme in place, but decides to make a few calls to his superiors and do a little investigation himself. His former partner Sonia meanwhile, a journalist, has identified something suspicious going on in Mineo in Sicily, with refugees being held captive apparently with the assistance of Chinese officials. Both soon find themselves in a lot of trouble even before they can they can attempt to make their findings known.

There is however another agency at work, a businessman who is developing his own network called Inversion, a growing alternative network where people can carry out financial transactions and movements in privacy. Tian and Jiao, Chinese twins in Shenzhen, have been smuggled out of China and given new identities by a Dutch agent, Magdalena, so that they can work on expanding the Inversion programme. Inversion is like a big VPN with PayPal using cryptocurrency, an effort to regain anonymity and freedom for our digital footprint, an alternative to free the world population from the invasive and controlling shackles of the European system. But how can anyone be sure of the security and privacy of their information on Inversion, or what the real intentions are behind the development of the new system.

The Thot/Inversion conflict is the main concern of Inversion, although elsewhere and in passing Ludovic Deblois paints a terrifying picture of a near-future where the USA also has its own problems with New York devastated by hurricane, Africa and the south of Europe suffering in the grip of an intense heatwave caused by climate change, where huge numbers of refugees have travelled towards Europe and where Europe is at war with Turkey. When you add references to pandemic scaremongering, an authoritarian European superstate, AI technology, robot combatants and guard dogs, Russian troll factories, Chinese expansion and big brother restrictions on press freedoms, there is a danger that the author is indulging in or giving credence to all manner of conspiracy theories.

On the other hand Inversion does make it feel like all of these things can be interconnected, a perfect storm that leads to a Matrix-like manipulation and mind control of an entire population. What it really hits on, as any good speculative SF should do, is look at where we are now and open our eyes to how much of our lives, transactions, behaviours are available online to large systems. Again, we think this is something we willingly share in full awareness of the convenience and benefits it offers in exchange, but we don't really know how our personal data is harvested and used, and how it could be exploited in the future. This is the truly scary element of Inversion, warning us that the road to totalitarianism doesn't require the overthrow of any current system, that it doesn't even need to be carried out in secret as a conspiracy; we can already see that this is a path we are on, with many European and world nations already on the side of authoritarianism, race hatred, anti-immigration and where "freedom of speech" means the freedom to willingly give away your freedoms. 

Initially I wasn't so keen on the sexual exploits of Sonia or the details of her history with Lucas (likewise Lucas's history and differences with his father), which scarcely feel relevant and seem to set the book half-heartedly into Michel Houellebecq territory. Their social, political and generational differences however do present different approaches to dealing with the information they are presented with and how they feel about the authorities. Inversion is an ambitious work of speculative fiction with one foot very firmly in present day reality, exploring in detail many of the serious questions we have to face up to today.

Reading notes: Inversion by Ludovic Deblois is published by Éditions des Offray. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the eBook review copy.