I’m thrilled to welcome you today to my stop on the blog tour for timely and all too believable dystopian thriller The Forcing by Paul E. Hardisty. Thank you to Anne Cater and Orenda Books for giving me the opportunity to read and review this outstanding book.
About the book:
Frustrated and angry after years of denial and inaction, in a last-ditch attempt to stave off disaster, a government of youth has taken power in North America, and a policy of institutionalised ageism has been introduced. All those older than the prescribed age are deemed responsible for the current state of the world, and are to be ‘relocated’, their property and assets confiscated.
David Ashworth, known by his friends and students as Teacher, and his wife May, find themselves among the thousands being moved to ‘new accommodation’ in the abandoned southern deserts – thrown together with a wealthy industrialist and his wife, a high court lawyer, two recent immigrants to America, and a hospital worker. Together, they must come to terms with their new lives in a land rendered unrecognisable.
As the terrible truth of their situation is revealed, lured by rumours of a tropical sanctuary where they can live in peace, they plan a perilous escape. But the world outside is more dangerous than they could ever have imagined. And for those who survive, nothing will ever be the same again…
About the author:
Canadian Paul Hardisty has spent twenty-five years working all over the world as an environmental scientist and freelance journalist.
He has roughnecked on oil rigs in Texas, explored for gold in the Arctic, mapped geology in Eastern Turkey (where he was befriended by PKK rebels), and rehabilitated water wells in the wilds of Africa.
He was in Ethiopia in 1991 as the Mengistu regime fell, survived a bomb blast in a café in Sana’a in 1993, and was one of the last Westerners out of Yemen at the outbreak of the 1994 civil war. In 2022 he criss-crossed Ukraine reporting on the Russian invasion.
Paul is a university professor and CEO of the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS). The four novels in his Claymore Straker series, The Abrupt Physics of Dying, The Evolution of Fear, Reconciliation for the Dead and Absolution, all received great critical acclaim and The Abrupt Physics of Dying was shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger and
a Telegraph Book of the Year. Paul drew on his own experiences to write Turbulent Wake, an extraordinary departure from his high-octane, thought-provoking thrillers.
Paul is a keen outdoorsman, a conservation volunteer, and lives in Western Australia.
My Review:
I’m always excited whenever Orenda Books publish a new book but wow, what a thrilling and thought provoking novel The Forcing by Paul E. Hardisty is! This timely and all too believable dystopian thriller makes for a shocking and uncomfortable read at times but is a complex and all too possible tale that chilled me to my core.
The author uses his extensive experience as an environmental scientist to deliver a stunning novel that explores what could happen as a result of climate change. He draws the reader into an all too plausible near future where a government of youth have taken over and introduced a policy of institutionalised ageism, where all people born before a certain year are deemed responsible for the current state of the world, stripped of their assets and relocated to the abandoned southern deserts.
David ‘Teacher’ Ashworth and his wife May find themselves among the many thousands forced to leave their homes and move to new accommodation. Made to share an apartment with others in the same predicament, it soon becomes apparent that not everything is as it seems and that the life they had been promised is very different to the reality they’re now faced with.
As the truth of their situation slowly dawns on them, Teacher and his fellow detainees begin to put together a plan of escape. But could whatever is out there prove to be even more dangerous than they ever imagined? And do they have what it takes to survive the perils of the outside world?
What follows is a fast paced and chilling thriller that will set your heart pounding and your pulse racing. The Forcing is dystopian fiction at its very best and Paul Hardisty’s writing is powerful as it bring to life a nightmare scenario that is almost too awful to contemplate.
I don’t want to say too much more for fear of spoiling the plot, so all I will say is that this book drew me in from the very first page and didn’t let go until the final, thrilling page had been turned. Paul E. Hardisty has written a chilling, thought provoking and all too plausible story that I found particularly emotive and is one that I know will stay with me for a long time to come.
A shocking but entirely believable read, The Forcing is a stunning and brilliantly written novel that completely blew me away. It’s the kind of book that doesn’t come along very often, one so special that it’s difficult to put into words just how devastatingly breathtaking it is.
A novel that deals with something as important as climate change can often run the risk of becoming bogged down with too much unnecessary detail or of coming across more like a sermon than a thriller, but The Forcing isn’t like that at all. It is first and foremost a dark, highly emotive dystopian thriller that keeps the twists, turns, shocks and surprises coming throughout. With an eclectic cast of characters, some of whom you can’t help but fall in love with, this is a story of human resilience in the face of a global disaster that need never have happened.
A scarily relevant, thought provoking and chilling rollercoaster of a read that stopped me in my tracks, The Forcing is a heart stopping force to be reckoned with and I honestly can’t recommend it highly enough.
Outstanding!
The Forcing by Paul E. Hardisty is available to buy now:
Cal Turner Reviews 
Thanks for the blog tour support x
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