Dystopian novels are a penny a dozen, but Michael Patrick Hicks’s Convergence offers the reader far more than the standard dystopian fare. Convergence is an intelligent thriller, an action-adventure that poses questions to the reader on the nature of self and memory, on what constitutes terrorism versus fighting for freedom, and what comes after death.

Before the Pacific Rim Coalition conquered the west coast and America fell apart, Jonah Everitt was an art professor. Now he is a killer, a memory thief addicted to the experience of death. He lives in a refugee camp, just one of the many displaced. The one thing of value left in his life is his daughter, Mesa, and she hates him. The world is both primitive and highly technical. Most people have units that record their memories and allow them to access stored memories. Some even have medimachines that help the body repair itself after injury. At the same time, communications have broken down, access to housing, food and clean water is limited. Jobs are few and the city is partially in ruins. Efforts to rebuild are hampered by terrorist attacks. Innocents are at risk from the both PRC officials and freedom fighters.

When his daughter goes missing, Jonah finds himself in the middle, uncertain of who he can trust, of who he should trust. Truth lies in the details, where memories of the past and present converge.

Convergence is a novel that is violent and disturbing, but at the same time thought provoking. It raises a great number of questions about identity and responsibility. Convergence is not always a comfortable novel to read, but it is a good piece of speculative dystopian fiction.

4/5

I received a copy of Convergence from the publisher and netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

—Crittermom

(3/11/16)