CRAIG JONATHAN REEKIE

Content warnings: child sexual abuse, suicide

Book: Momenteering: The Misadventures of Living Other People’s Moments

A debut novel for this author and the first book published by new Scottish-based indie publisher Vegageist, Momenteering takes a dark concept to its logical conclusion: what if we could pay for someone else to live out the most boring or worst parts of our days for us?

That’s where the Momenteers come in. Some clients wish to skip sitting around in waiting rooms. Many have Momenteers carry out daily jobs that clients have sensory aversions to, like showering. Perhaps sex with the spouse has become a chore, or maybe the client wishes to commit suicide without experiencing the moment first-hand. That isn’t even the most distressing aspect of the novel, and it seems in this society more and more people are using this service to escape the mundanity of life – or life altogether.

The protagonist, a Momenteer called Komo, soon learns that a client has been sexually abusing their child but the company will not listen or act: ‘we operate, not above, but outside the law.’ He realises he is the only one who can save this boy. Komo goes forth despite the odds being stacked against him: he has little information to go on; his employer is a brutal leviathan of a corporation with harsh punishments for digressions from the rules; and Komo himself is highly socially anxious and an unlikely hero.

Some aspects of the novel work much better than others. Komo’s interactions and relationships can be jarring. However, overall the themes explored and key moments described will have a profound effect on the reader, as a shocking reminder that new technology can move us further away from becoming more civilised as a species.

There are elements of Bradbury (threats of an asylum for deviant behaviour), Brooker (a Black Mirror-esque mind tech concept), and an unsettling Poe-like use of direct address narration which incites very mixed feelings about the main character.

Momenteering is out now, published by Vegageist

Natalie Jayne Clark