Much like Dickner's earlier novel, Nikolski, this is a funny, fast-paced story that focuses on cleverly wrought characters with an unexpected depth of emotion. A great story with a hint of intrigue and some family drama to bring it all together.

Six Degrees of Freedom by Nicolas Dickner is a tight, well written novel with an enjoyable and rewarding payoff. The story follows two separate characters. The first is Jay, a female hacker who is working off her prison time as a civilian in the technology fraud section of the RCMP. The second is Lisa who spends her time building gizmos, such as a DIY weather balloon, with her tech-wunderkind friend named Éric. In classic Dickner fashion, both stories are linked and half the fun is figuring out how. 

This book is a translation of a 2015 novel written originally in French. Lazer Lederhendler does a wonderful job with this translation as the book is a pleasure to read just for Dickner’s turns of phrase. Dickner is a Canadian from Montreal, and Six Degrees of Freedom is a very Canadian novel with its references to Tim Horton’s coffee shops and it wintry setting. It also has Montreal flair in its subtle cosmopolitanism. For example, I remember distinctly a casual line describing a character who is living on welfare watching subtitled German films. And let’s not forget the many references to bagels! (Of which I must add Montreal bagels are the best variety). 

The only flaw I found in this novel was that some of the technology described seems limited by today’s standards. For example, some characters are hobbled by the lack of Wi-Fi, which seems absurd in 2017 when smartphones and data plans are ubiquitous. Another aspect that stuck out for me was the frequency that Lisa, who is a millennial, listens to the radio as opposed to finding her music online. These negatives are only tiny details and that I am discussing them at all points to how wonderful overall this book was.  

I recommend this books to fans of Nicolas Dickner and to newcomers as well. Dickner is etching his place in the Canadian literary canon and Six Degrees of Freedom is a great contribution to that emerging legacy. 

Note: I received a review copy of this book from Penguin Random House Canada through Netgalley.