Gnomon (2017) may be the smartest book I’ve read in many years. Nick Harkaway has created a multi-leveled, many faceted story that manages to succeed on several levels.
First, it’s page-turning romp, a whodunnit that spans multiple timelines and characters, with enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing. Second, it’s a meditation on the emerging digital landscape, on what it might actually mean to trade privacy for security. And, finally, it’s an exercise in unpacking a set of Russian doll narratives, where symbols and patterns nest inside each other at multiple layers.
That’s a lot.
It works because the protagonist–a dedicated, intuitive, thoughtful detective–remains engaging and compelling throughout; because the different nested narratives are enjoyable on their own, regardless of whether the reader connects each and every dot; and finally because the thoughts about security and privacy go beyond the obvious and the trite.
This last one is of particular interest: the novel is set (or part of it is set, or some of the nested narratives are set) in a UK of the future where an AI powered system sees everything. Instead of this being just another take on a Panopticon/Orwellian state, though, Harkaway takes the question seriously, and allows some real consideration of whether our privacy–which amounts to what, exactly?–might not actually be a fair exchange for safety and security. What is the total elimination of violent crime worth? What is the appropriate cost of a fully participatory democracy?
By the end of the novel, Harkaway’s conclusions are clear, but they are held in abeyance long enough for the reader to be forced to consider the questions more fully than most dystopian writing allows.
If you enjoyed films like Inception or Memento, you will enjoy Gnomon; if those films left you frustrated, this work is likely to as well.
#WhatIWishICouldDo
Gnomon maintains its pace and intelligence for over 600 pages, and it manages a quintet of narratives with none of them dropping off and feeling incomplete. It’s quite an achievement.