Mask, by Kerry Nietz

Kerry Nietz, author of the fantastic DarkTrench series (see my reviews here, here, and here) is back with a new vision of a near-future earth in his new novel Mask.  It's the not-too-distant future, and through some combination of human conflict and natural disasters, many parts of the world have become uninhabitable, and those that are still populated are isolated from other regions.  In PacNorth, masked Collectors round up people who have been voted inconvenient by their peers.  It's a great system, in a way.  Everyone is always on their best behavior, for fear of being voted down, and the population stays under control.

That is, until Radial begins to have second thoughts. . . . Grill cook by day, Collector by night, Radial is one of the best of the Collectors, but on the spur of the moment decides that a little girl he's collected deserves a chance to live.  Together Radial and Darcy seek to discover the truth about the collection and bring down the system.

Mask is a brisk, fast-paced story, which leaves plenty to be explained.  How did PacNorth become isolated?  What's going on in the rest of the world?  How did the collection system get its start?  Nietz hints at the answers, but chooses to focus on the action of the story rather than on the exposition of this future history.  He also raises interesting questions about the nature of democracy, as the whole society is built around the tyranny of the majority.  Is mob rule really the next logical developmental stage of democracy?  And with God having been voted out as inconvenient, Nietz hints about pockets of Christian faith that remain.  While the story of Mask wraps up nicely, these questions cry out for answers.  There is plenty of material for a sequel.  (I hope you're working on it, Kerry!)

Mask does not have the epic scale and theological weight of the DarkTrench saga, but does showcase Nietz's story-telling skill.  I didn't want to put it down, as evidenced by the fact that I am writing this review at 1:30 a.m., having stayed up way too late finishing the book!



If you haven't read the DarkTrench saga, do!