Infomocracy Is a Near-Future Political Thriller with Terrifying Present-Day Implications

It has been 20 years since the nations of the world dissolved and, with the help of a search engine/social networking monopoly called Information, reformed as a global micro-democracy. For the last two election cycles, a coalition of corporate interests known as Heritage has controlled the world via a Supermajority. But as the planet gears up for the third election under the Pax Democratica, competition seems stiffer than ever, and Domaine, an anti-election revolutionary, sees his chance to gain the edge he needs to shift the balance of power. Ken, a political operative, thinks he can push the idealistic Policy1st party into the pole position, and with it, secure himself a steady gig. Mishima, an Information operative, is just trying to keep the election running the way it’s supposed to. Behind it all, shadowy forces threaten the grand democratic experiment and, if left unchecked, they could throw the world into chaos.
Though the book bubbles along with the intrigue and thrills of a top-tier potboiler, Older’s involuted world-building sets it apart. This reinvented system of democracy isn’t just a backdrop to the interpersonal conflicts, nor does it merely serve as a way to generate tension—the Election is the star of the show. The characters actually poll constituents in the various politically divided districts (called “centenals”), analyze the data, and predict how to sway the public’s votes, even as they try to unravel a villainous conspiracy. Lest you think that sounds as tedious as the endless election cycles of the real world, there are plenty of pretty cool additives, like the centenal based around “cute characters” (derided as the “Hello Kitty Party”), and an older centenal that always votes for itself, because that’s who’s been governing them since time immemorial (never mind that it amounts to tossing the votes in the dumpster). The system is also fairly easy to understand, and exploring its ins and outs never burdens the storytelling—and, in fact, manages to be as fascinating as any of the character conflicts or conspiratorial capering.
While all of Older’s characters exist within their spheres of influence, she places many of them much closer to the ground level than the pinnacles of power. These are not the people in charge of controlling the levers that move the world— Domaine’s chief function in the anti-election group seems to be public relations, Ken is an analyst first and a campaign manager second, and Mishima is mainly an election official, albeit one armed to the teeth. By placing her characters in the thick of things, rather than above it all), Older gives them roots in the setting that make them feel real. We never know quite where they stand—their motives are murky, as are often our own; we’re never assured we know anyone’s full agenda, but we know enough that their actions make sense, even when they surprise us.
This is a slow-burn thriller, Three Days of the Condor by way of Snow Crash, but the momentum never falters, advancing with the inevitability of a clockworks and fleshing out the setting and multilayered plotting as it goes. The action scenes, when they do occur, are sudden, fierce, and explosive, upping the tension and the stakes, as each disaster, each assassination attempt, each attack carries weight. The book pivots on at least two major events that feel absolutely earth-shaking, and they land with such force because they come suddenly (though not entirely out of nowhere), and the havoc they wreak is palpable.
There’s an old saw that we’re already living in a science-fictional world. Ostensibly set in the future, Infomocracy‘s observations about subtle politics as a system of control are terrifyingly present-day.
Preorder Infomocracy, available June 7.