Authority by Jeff VanderMeer

Publisher – 4th Estate

Published – Out Now

Price – £9.99 paperback £2.99 Kindle eBook

Following the disastrous twelfth expedition chronicled in ‘Annihilation’, the second book of the Southern Reach trilogy introduces John Rodriguez, the new head of the government agency responsible for the safeguarding of Area X. His first day is spent grappling with the fall-out from the last expedition. Area X itself remains a mystery. But, as instructed by a higher authority known only as The Voice, the self-styled Control must battle to ‘put his house in order’.

From a series of interrogations, a cache of hidden notes and hours of profoundly troubling video footage, the mysteries of Area X begin to reveal themselves—and what they expose pushes Control to confront disturbing truths about both himself and the agency he’s promised to serve.

Undermined and under pressure to make sense of everything, Rodriguez retreats into his past in a labyrinthine search for answers. Yet the more he uncovers, the more he risks, for the secrets of the Southern Reach are more sinister than anyone could have known.

NB this is the sequel to Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer there will be some spoilers!

We all love a mystery. The Loch Ness Monster, The Bermuda Triangle or the Marie Celeste. Something that seems impossible and yet evidence suggests somehow may be true, or at least we want to think it is. Compelling mysteries attract people, and the process of observation and just perhaps the obsession to observe can in the process change them (see book bloggers for more examples). In Authority, the second of the Southern Reach stories, Jeff VanderMeer moves away a few miles from the mysterious Area X with its many wonders and dangers and takes us back to our world to meet the people who study/protect us from its dangers and we see how they are in turn being changed by what they witness. It’s a fascinating twist on the classic themes of conspiracy thrillers and secret government agencies that perhaps tells us about the limits of humans trying to understand a changing world.

When Area X was created by unknown means it was mysterious change to a US coastal area that likely killed 1400 people. As a result the Southern Reach Authority was formed to analyse, observe and ultimate defend us from the effects of this strange area that warps reality around it. Within the Reach’s concrete offices people sent countless expeditions to explore and each reported back their unique experience and the team members would be very different to the ones who left (and in some cases many did not). After the last Eleventh expedition failed , and in the process lost the Southern Reach’s mysterious Director, a new Director who likes to be called Control is appointed to head a suspicious and strange team of scientists and operatives. As Control investigates on behalf of his own government faction the Southern Reach finds three members of the last expedition, including the biologist, are back, changed and yet Control thinks they may finally be on the way to solving the mystery of what Area X is, and what it wants.

I will warn you, we are not going back to Area X in this book, despite that it is still all about Area X and I found the choices here really worked as we discover the strange impact Area X has had on those working to solve it’s mystery. In many ways just like the doomed expeditions these people too are being changed by the power of Area X but that could be its influence or just prolonged exposure to a mystery you cannot solve and being part of a poorly funded government organisation. This is very much a story of contradictions and VanderMeer has taken the idea of a shadowy government agency and instead gives us an underfunded, very stressed to the point of mental breakdown group that seems to focus on the same things every day and go nowhere. This creates an atmosphere that is both oppressive, a little paranoid and pushed to its limits. What may happen then?

Into this we have the intriguing central character of John Rodriguez also known as Control – yes that is his nickname he wants everyone to call him and I am sure Freud would love that. Again Vandermeer is playing with what we expect  (interestingly Control is the title of the shadowy boss of George Smiley in many of Le Carre’s novels) and as we find here its here a statement that Control wishes to demonstrate power and control on his organisation but just perhaps like some nicknames we find it really isn’t his skillset. Control is we find more chess piece than grandmaster being moved around by shadowy forces (one of which is much much better spy-mother) he is in a battle of wits with his Assistant Director Grace who was far too loyal to his predecessor and he takes the role of the inquisitor of the biologist who is back from the first book. In no encounter does Control seem to be in charge and his self-belief comes undone. As a character arc we weirdly find despite that ego he is quite sympathetic we get to understand how he got like this as we delve into his past and see how this led to mistakes. He is not about glory or power which is refreshing but at the same time he is perhaps a few steps behind where he should be if he wants to succeed.

Success in the form of knowledge is another spect of the story. Area X we get to hear about its inception - an event that swallowed battleships, destroyed fighter jets, can magically make thousands of rabbits disappear and all its objects are mysterious when they come out with an exhibition - apparently cleaned of all human pollution. But it’s such a huge mystery, far beyond our current knowledge and twists all attempts to study it that we get the scientists unable to really pierce that mystery to any level at all. In some ways now this reminds me of the early days of climate change and how scientists can see a problem but the solution to it is so enormous on a scale that can’t be solved likely in any single lifetime that anyone is prepared to accept or resource and this can really suck the life out of the people involved.

That sense of futility as we start to explore the offies with control is leading to many strange finds. The Previous director has a wall painted with words that readers of Annhiliation will find, scientists continue to look at videos from the early experiments and go nowhere else. Control feels they’re being spied upon and starts to wonder who he can trust. The biologist doesn’t seem to be quite the person her briefings told Control she would be. It’s really unusual to have a story when everything feels off without any direct or obvious cause. A pressure cooker that we can see is overheating and no one realises they’re running out of time. The pace is slower this time but allows us to explore humanity‘s petty reactions and that nature in the unnatural form of Area A is still likely to have the upper hand. The book ends setting up potentially a new story but we are unsure will we meet certain characters again.

Authority is a an unexpected sequel in the way it is in conversation with abolition but not the type of direct sequel an action adventure version of the story would perhaps have done (with more explosions and strange creatures). It’s quieter, more humans yet also more paranoid and yet still just as weird but this time it’s humans doing the strange things (most of the time). I strongly recommend it!

Next book - Acceptance