Suicide Club

May 1, 2018
In a frighteningly plausible future, the economy revolves around the currency of health, life spans are potentially eternal, and the new have-nots are born with poverty encoded in their genes.Lea Kirino is a career Lifer. At 100 years old, she is already high up the ladder at the Healthfin fund, where she spends her days working with clients whose fortunes are invested in the organ trade--mostly hearts, lungs, and livers. A stringent devotee of the shadowy Ministry's recommendations for maximum life expectancy, Lea and her equally genetically pedigreed fiance, Todd, are perfectly poised to join the long-rumored Third Wave. If chosen to receive newly developed life-prolonging treatments, Lea's expected life span of 300 years might be extended indefinitely through a combination of organ replacement, enhancements, nutrient and exercise regimes, and, of course, strict avoidance of cortisol-increasing activities like listening to music or looking at art. Yet, even with immortality at stake, Lea can't let go of the complications of her past--her brother's death, her own violent impulses, the disappearance of her "antisanct" father, Kaito, who turned his back on the family 88 years ago and hasn't been seen since. When Kaito suddenly returns, his radical influence stirs up Lea's own unruly impulses and exposes her to scrutiny from the Ministry. His presence also has the unintended consequence of introducing her into the inner circle of the Suicide Club--a group of well-connected rebels who choose the crime of death over the sentence of eternal life--forcing Lea to decide if living means the experience of life or adherence to the cult of immortality that has replaced all other forms of culture in this speculative New York of the future. Heng expertly threads a ribbon of dread through her glittering vistas and gleaming characters; however, the plot is so solidly foreshadowed that the climax, when it comes, feels almost preordained. This speaks to the intricacy of the world Heng has created and sets a dark mirror against the robotic bureaucracy of the Ministry's oversight that assigns at birth "an algorithm [that] decides who lives and who doesn't" so as not to waste resources on anyone with subpar genetic potential. Unfortunately, it also undercuts the author's considerable skill at rendering her characters in all their solid, bodily reality by making their actions seem less like startling acts of free will and more like functions of an overweening plot.A complicated and promising debut that spoofs the current health culture craze even as it anticipates its appalling culmination.

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July 9, 2018
Heng’s uneven debut takes place in a futuristic New York where people are divided by life expectancy into “lifers” and “sub-lifers,” determined by a test performed at birth. Lifers can live up to 300 years old, and there are rumors swirling of a coming Third Wave that could bring lifers to immortality. Lea Kirino is a dedicated lifer, with a great job, a pedigreed fiancé, and daily routines and nutritional plans meant to optimize her lifespan. She’s an obvious fast-track candidate for the Third Wave—until one day, on her way to work, she sees her father, who’s been missing for 88 years. She steps into the street to chase after him, putting her life and her future in jeopardy. Anja Nilsson is a lifer as well, but when she sees the disastrous effects that life extension operations have on her mother, leaving her body technically alive but dead in every meaningful way, she comes to understand the drawbacks of immortality. When Lea and Anja meet, Lea feels drawn to Anja and especially her connection to the mysterious Suicide Club, whose members view immortality as unnatural and oppressive. Heng’s novel casts a critical eye on the desirability of immortality and contains some haunting, indelible moments. However, it’s weighed down by a lack of action and an overreliance on explication that undermine her conceit instead of allowing it to breathe and develop, making this an ambitious novel with mixed success.

Starred review from May 15, 2018

In the not-too-distant future, Lea appears to have it all: a high-powered job, a loving partner, and a very good chance at obtaining immortality. At birth it was determined that she could live well past age 300; recent technological advances and her willingness to cooperate with ever-stricter directives from the Ministry mean she might be chosen to receive life-prolonging treatments indefinitely. But with the sudden return of her estranged father, Lea is thrust into the Suicide Club, a strange underground organization determined to exist outside the influence of the Ministry. Drawn further into her father's world, Lea is forced to choose between his love and the life she has worked so hard to achieve. It is not difficult to imagine a future similar to the one in which Lea lives, where organ replacement surgeries and enhancements and the desire to remain young forever are seen as the norm. VERDICT Fans of modern speculative fiction and readers who love stories that warn us to be careful what we wish for will be enthralled by Heng's highly imaginative debut, which deftly asks, "What does it really mean to be alive?" [See Prepub Alert, 1/8/18.]--Portia Kapraun, Delphi P.L., IN

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2018

In the not-too-distant future, Lea appears to have it all: a high-powered job, a loving partner, and a very good chance at obtaining immortality. At birth it was determined that she could live well past age 300; recent technological advances and her willingness to cooperate with ever-stricter directives from the Ministry mean she might be chosen to receive life-prolonging treatments indefinitely. But with the sudden return of her estranged father, Lea is thrust into the Suicide Club, a strange underground organization determined to exist outside the influence of the Ministry. Drawn further into her father's world, Lea is forced to choose between his love and the life she has worked so hard to achieve. It is not difficult to imagine a future similar to the one in which Lea lives, where organ replacement surgeries and enhancements and the desire to remain young forever are seen as the norm. VERDICT Fans of modern speculative fiction and readers who love stories that warn us to be careful what we wish for will be enthralled by Heng's highly imaginative debut, which deftly asks, "What does it really mean to be alive?" [See Prepub Alert, 1/8/18.]--Portia Kapraun, Delphi P.L., IN

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.