July–August 2008: 10 best photos

autonomy
River Island, Reading, England. ( 15 JULY )

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2008 books

61) Ken MacLeod, The Night Sessions, 2008
These days Ken's novels go straight to the top of my reading pile, and I certainly found The Night Sessions deserving of this priority. However there is one major suspension of disbelief required: a few decades into the future the world's religions have become marginalised to the extent that they have gone all but underground. An enforced secularism happening within a single country or bloc is easily imaginable, but worldwide might present a few insurmountable difficulties. But that premise is necessary for the novel to work, and it does indeed work very well: a series of small terrorist attacks are targeting Christians in Edinburgh, the question is of course who is behind them, and are much more ambitious horrors being planned? The Night Sessions is essentially a near-future Scottish 'police procedural', often consciously resembling Asimov's robot stories, and as an examination of the warped motives behind post-9/11 terrorism it works well alongside The Execution Channel – indeed the two books somehow feel of a pair, despite being different in theme. As usual Ken has provided an insightful and very accessible read, and the pacing is just about perfect.