Book Reviews Technology

The scent of kerosene is your perfume, and the roaring flames are your greatest achievement. As a fireman in a chillingly controlled future, your job is not to put out fires. Your job is to start them. Books are strictly forbidden, blamed for spreading dangerous ideas and causing unhappiness. When someone is caught hiding a library, you are the one who arrives with the Mechanical Hound and a flamethrower to reduce their precious pages to gray ashes. You have never questioned the system or the empty, screen filled life you share with your distant wife. Then you meet a teenage neighbor named Clarisse. She does not care about the giant interactive televisions or the endless fast paced distractions. Instead, she asks you simple, terrifying questions about the world, nature, and your own happiness. Suddenly, the unquestioning loyalty you once felt to your profession begins to crumble. You start to wonder what secrets are hidden in the books you destroy, leading you to commit the ultimate crime of reading one yourself. In a society where independent thought is illegal, your sudden awakening makes you a target for the very government you once proudly served.