Smorgasbord Book Reviews – #Psychological Thriller- Hope by Terry Tyler

Delighted to review the latest release by Terry Tyler – a psychological thriller set in the future – Hope

About the Book

‘We haven’t elected a Prime Minister, we’ve elected a lifestyle’.

As the fourth decade of the 21st century looms, new PM Guy Morrissey and his fitness guru wife Mona (hashtag MoMo) are hailed as the motivational couple to get the UK #FitForWork, with Mona promising to ‘change the BMI of the nation’.

Lita Stone is an influential blogger and social media addict, who watches as Guy and Mona’s policies become increasingly ruthless. Unemployment and homelessness are out of control. The solution? Vast new compounds all over the country, to house those who can no longer afford to keep a roof over their heads.

These are the Hope Villages, financed by US corporation Nutricorp.

Lita and her flatmates Nick and Kendall feel safe in their cosy cyberspace world. Unaware of how swiftly bad luck can snowball, they suspect little of the danger that awaits the unfortunate, behind the carefully constructed mirage of Hope.

Terry Tyler’s nineteenth published work is a psychological thriller that weaves through the darker side of online life, as the gap between the haves and the have-nots grows ever wider. Whether or not it will mirror a dystopian future that awaits us, we will have to wait and see.

My review for Hope.

As a fan of Terry Tyler’s books, I was expecting to enjoy her latest book, Hope. What I was not expecting to be was horrified as well.  I doubt that I am the only one who wonders how we are going to move forward from our lives today, as technology becomes integrated, into not just our personal lives, but in communications, the work place and crucially, as an every advancing tool for our governments. We are already spied on by cameras, monitored on social media, having our personal data used for many purposes, and allegedly listened to on our devices. Wonderful if the attention is to stop crime as they tell us, but how quickly it might cross over into population manipulation.

This is set only a few years into the future from 2023 on wards. Ordinary, hard working people are being fired from their jobs and find themselves homeless and at the mercy of the government and the new aid package. Villages where there is little hope of leaving, and where the numbers do not add up. Well crafted media campaigns promise a better Britain but it is tough to tell truth from lies. Those who want to expose the corruption are shut down and seeking the truth becomes dangerous.

The author has captured the era of where we are now accurately, which is very frightening. Superficial role models, a welfare state, education and health service stretched to the limit and increased lifestyle related obesity and disease. Crucially she also recognises how very little positivity is broadcast via the media, creating a very stark environment especially for the younger generation. Tyler then takes the next, and possibly inevitable step on from this scenario, leading us to a very dark place.

The main characters are realistic and identifiable, and are like billions of us, blogging and posting online daily, and initially doing very well by providing content that pleases. Some who are more sceptical are also working behind the scenes, questioning both the government and the growing monopoly Nutricorp taking over sectors of the food and health industry. Some work within the corporation, and begin to question its ethics or refuse to conform to the draconian regulations, but they are soon rooted out and fired. Leaving them with little option but accept the offer to relocate into one of the villages for the homeless… named Hope.

Those at the government level are greedy and self-seeking, and their goal is to get the population fit for work, and off benefits, by any means possible.

If this book was set in 2050 or later, one could dismiss it as a piece of science fiction that would never happen in reality. But everyday we see the signs of a fractured society in the headlines, in our own community and in most of our countries. I think everyone should read the book to see where that might lead us if we are not careful about who we put into power.

You won’t want to put the book down… and it will leave you with much to think about.

Read the reviews and buy the book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07S89DK54

And on Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07S89DK54

A selection of books by Terry Tyler

Read the reviews and buy the books: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Terry-Tyler/e/B00693EGKM

And Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Terry-Tyler/e/B00693EGKM

Read more reviews and follow Terry Tyler on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5821157.Terry_Tyler

About Terry Tyler

Terry Tyler is the author of sixteen books available from Amazon, the latest being ‘Patient Zero’, the third book in her new post apocalyptic series, which is a collection of stand-alone short stories featuring characters in the main novels. She is proud to be self-published, is an avid reader and book reviewer, and a member of Rosie Amber’s Book Review Team.

Terry is a Walking Dead addict, and loves history, winter, South Park and Netflix. She lives in the north east of England with her husband, a move that took place nine years ago from the beautiful Norfolk coast; she is still trying to learn Geordie.

Connect to Terry Tyler

Blog: https://terrytyler59.blogspot.ie/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerryTyler4