Lost In Juarez [Kindle Edition]

This was my first book by Douglas Lindsay - having bought 'The Long Midnight of Barney Thompson' a long while back, it has remained on my unread pile, but I'll be starting it tonight.
'Lost in Juarez' probably ranks equally with Henry Porter's 'The Dying Light' as the best political thriller I have read. I would endorse one of the earlier reviewers that it is more satire than conspiracy theory. It certainly poses a lot of questions to leave in the readers' minds on the fragility of democracy in an age of celebrity and immediacy.
While for me, the book scores most highly as a satire, I have to say that it also scores well as a twisting, turning thriller which I just did not want to put down.
Finally, I have to admit to being puzzled by the title. I am of the Dylan era and moderately a fan but it took a fair amount of Google searching to track down the origin of the title, I suppose inevitably, to one of the tracks on Highway 61 Revisited.

This story, describing a Britain of tomorrow (I think!), where personal freedoms have all but disappeared and anything displeasing to the state is instantly crushed, is very well told and frighteningly feasible. It is certainly thought-provoking and makes you look at the news with an even more suspicious eye. At the same time it is a well written story; my only minor criticisms are the repeated use of the phrase "holy crap", viz 50 shades, and the mis-spelling of the word chord when he means cord. Incidentally, the mysterious title, which does not connect to anything in the story, comes from a Bob Dylan song.

Ever feel you've been shafted at work? Did you ever do anything about it? Probably not. Probably went home, kicked the dog, poured a glass of your favourite tipple, shouted at the kids and sank into a fantasy of retribution.

In Lost in Juarez by Douglas Lindsay, Lake Weston (don't worry, it's not his real name), finds out what happens when you fight back. A highly successful children's author, only slightly behind JK Rowling, Weston has his latest in a long series of 'Fenton Bargus' books shelved by his publisher because it takes a swipe at the prime minister. That, seemingly is a big no-no in the land that Britain has become where any kind of opposition to the government is seen as terrorism - even if you are a children's author.

How does Weston respond? He writes the greatest work of his career, a savage indictment on the government and their continued onslaught on freedom of speech and individual liberty.

Weston never imagined how swiftly and mercilessly the government would respond to his book, forcing him to fight to save his very existence.

There are some fabulous moments of classic Lindsay in this novel. As the government starts to unravel, the prime minister prepares to make a speech, pointing out the choices the people of Britain have to make.

"If they wanted to keep their gadgets, if they wanted to keep their Sky TV and their MP3s, their iPhones and their Macs, their Premiership and their Ashes tours, their Sunday lunches and their twenty-four hour Tescos on every corner, their cooking shows and their pre-packed chopped up fruit, if they wanted to keep Ant & Dec and Dawn French and the Sun and garden centres and unlimited credit cards and no win-no fee lawyers, if they wanted the life they had come to expect, then they were going to have to make some sacrifices. They would have to accept a new kind of democracy..."

Lindsay is a master at pointing out absurdities in contemporary society and he does this with his usual humour, eloquently making his case for the downfall of democracy.

Lindsay has WE ARE THE HANGED MAN coming out on 24th August 2012, but in the meantime, don't miss Lost in Juarez - especially if you love Bob Dylan.