The Second Sleep by Robert Harris

 

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THIS REVIEW HAS SPOILERS! 

Robert Harris is my favourite author and I have read all of his books. I find his grasp of geopolotics and its place in any given point in history to be one of his best traits as an author. I also find his characters engaging and his writing style descriptive and well paced.

I also enjoy the fact that he cannot be pigeon holed. He has written books of historical fiction (eg the Cicero trilogy, Enigma etc,) alternative history ( Fatherland) and "what if" thrillers (Archangel, the Ghost, Conclave) and  now we leap into historal fiction set in the future about current events. Head warping, isnt it?

This book begins by letting us  believe we are in circa 1500. AD. A young inexperienced priest is sent from Exeter to a small rural backwater to bury a old and possibly heretical, possibly murdered parish vicar. However among old man's detritus are plastic straws, plastic dolls and a dilapadated iphone! Hence we realise we are in the years circa 2800. The apocalypse had occured in 2020 and the world was thrown back into the dark ages and a new calender introduced.

     This is the main driver of the story although there are others inc a forbidden romance, a treasure hunt, and a touch of rebellion against the all powerful church. Indeed, the only instituion to survive the end of life as we know was the church mainly due to the safety offered by churches and cathederals that had already stood for a 1000yrs before the apocalypse.

   The title comes from the practice of biphasic sleep or sleep in two parts that was the norm way back in the mists of time. Harris imagines that this practice would make a comeback in the future with no electric light to torment our circadian rythyms. Of course the title could also alude to the secondary period of dark ages (the first being the roughly 1000yrs from the fall of Rome to the Renaisance) that forms the back drop our story.  

     The plot bounds along with some clever asides into what post apocalypse UK may be like, eg ongoing war with the Caliphate in the north of England. Our fallen hero Fairfax is on the the trail of a killer who may have murdered to silence the old priest who, in turn, may have found a treasure trove of ancient  technology and knowledge in a secret refuge used during the end of days.  

  The story kept my interest through out however, I thought the ending was anticlimatic and quite frankly a touch depressing.

I get the feeling this book may have been written during the Trump election/Brexit era when I know mr Harris was despondant at what has become of western politics. It seems that he feels there may be a collapse of civiliasation brought about out by narcisist, pompous hubris and loss of humanity due to the weight of technological input.  It seems he is channeling his inner corporal Fraser from tv show Dads Army, "We're dooomed! We're dooomed" I hope he is wrong. 6.5 out of 10. Enjoyable book let down by poor end and sense of perpetual loss.

Selected quotes...

All civilisations consider themselves invulnerable; history warns us that none is.