B i b l i o f i l e

The long dark night of the Edinburgh soul?

If you have ever wondered what kind of world will emerge from the current “War on Terror”, then you may enjoy reading the new novel by Ken MacLeod.

It is set some decades from now, in the aftermath of a series of conflicts known in the formerly US-allied countries as the “Faith Wars”. The rest of the world refers to them as the “Oil Wars”, and indeed wounded British ex-combatants receive pensions from the united secular democratic Arab states under the “Oil for Blood” programme.

One of the effects of the end of the Faith Wars was a mass reaction against faith-based politics. This sparked a civil war in the USA (which the religious fundamentalists lost) and in the Republic of Scotland police God squads suppressed all political involvement on the part of preachers of all creeds.

The original Enlightenment led to the separation of church and state; the Second Enlightenment has led to the separation of religion and politics. The murder of a priest in Edinburgh causes unease in official circles. Has politicised religion re-emerged as a social force?

This is not only an enjoyable “who done it” crime novel, categorised as science fiction because it is set in “the future”, it is also a mind-tickling political satire.

MacLeod’s Edinburgh owes something to the novels of Ian Rankin, in my opinion, but this is a strength: the fiction is more believable for being rooted in a not-unfamiliar setting. The plot does not bear too close an examination in retrospect, but this is true of many crime novels.

The Night Sessions will be of interest not only to crime novel aficionados, science fiction fans and politicos, but also to general readers (if there be such a thing).