Camp Zero

The three intertwined storylines of a post-climate-change future were interesting and compelling. At first. Two relate the story of a project to build a utopian city for people fleeing northward. Except, of course, it might not be what it seems, and the idealistic leader might or might not realize that. The third concerns a group of women at "White Alice", a climate research station somewhere in northern Canada, a couple of days travel from the other story lines. Abandoned by their home base, they must learn to survive on their own and find new beginnings on their own terms.

It's this third story line that unraveled the book for me. The book sets up severe contradictions between the group's stated aspirations and their actions, yet never addresses this. Their code of life includes such niceties as love of family and the environment as well as never killing without a reason. Yet they continually murder people, often quite brutally, and the reason is always that they want their victim's money and possessions and don't want to leave behind someone who might identify them. A person minding their own business camping in a van is told that they've lost their dog and that they need help finding it. When he volunteers to help, they kill him and take his van. They set pit bulls on people who are sleeping and, once they've been mauled to death, cut out their teeth as souvenirs. The contradiction between their high minded ideals and their actions as a band of serial killers is never addressed.