Finlay chronicles the life of a man working for an ambitious (and possibly delusional) chief executive. A third of the way through the book, the narrator describes protagonist Hugh Snell as “god-like, ant-like, altogether paranoid.” It’s a good summary of his contradictory nature; Hugh is at once talented enough to be entrusted with a high-level corporate job and incompetent enough to cause frequent disasters in his personal life. Hugh works at AstroLabs™ for a tech CEO with the auspicious name of Lex Ramesses, who has his sights set on interplanetary colonization and a predilection for residing in a “carbon free emission cube.” A series of countdowns provide a signpost to just how far from a groundbreaking event the company is—though there’s also a lingering question of whether Ramesses’ reach has exceeded his grasp. Hugh’s corporate anxieties coincide with familial drama involving his twin brother, Ernst—who’s more skeptical of Ramesses’ project—and their cousin Martin. Finlay takes some formal risks here, including an array of fonts to differentiate between online and in person interactions. But the highlights include the use of highly specific descriptions: One location is described as “a former factory with an atmosphere midway between illegal rave and corporate trade show,” while a particular aesthetic Hugh observes is compared to “an English idea of a French techno DJ circa Y2K.” The targets of this novel’s satire are ripe for mockery, from self-serious pseudo-intellectuals to egomaniacal executives. Satire is a subjective thing, though, and Hugh’s haplessness doesn’t make him the most engaging of protagonists.
