Sunshine State by James Miller

Take one part global warming, one part hurricane Katrina, one part spy thriller and mix liberally with three parts J G Ballard's The Drowned World.

In other words I was completely miss-sold this book. The back cover indicates some sort of techno-thriller. Instead what it is, is a dark and dystopic aftersmudge of doom and loss. Don't get me wrong, it's not bad but the writing is simply not up there with Ballard and it clearly wants to be. The ending, abrupt as it is, is murmuringly lost in amidst a build up that pretty much stretches across the entirety of the rest of the book.

I like it, but it's strangled by its ambitions and its dreams of being more than a thriller. Which is problematic. If it was less aspirational it could have survived such failings, however, it's looking to triumph on the basis of its scope and form and so the flaws become somewhat fatal. As an experiment it's interesting but as a story it's hard to take and for me it doesn't work.

I'd definitely pick Miller up again as I have a soft spot for experimenters and those who want to break the mould and I think given some room to stretch his talent he will, in the future, achieve the ambitions which so clearly break this particular book.