Review: Riot by Sarah Mussi

A hard hitting, near future thriller from the author of SIEGE

Years of cuts have devastated Britain: banks are going under, businesses closing, prices soaring, unemployment rising, prisons overflowing. The authorities cannot cope. And the population has maxed out.

The solution: forced sterilisation of all school leavers without secure further education plans or guaranteed employment. The country is aghast, but the politicians are unshakeable. No more free housing for single parents, no more child benefit, no more free school meals, no more children in need.

It’s time for the young to take to the streets. It’s time for them to RIOT.

Will Be Available: May 1, 2014

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The publisher gave me a copy of this book to read and review (from NetGalley). This has, in no way, altered my opinion of the book and what is written below is a 100% honest review.

When I began this novel, I almost dropped it. I don’t have much tolerance for bad writing, unless the story plot is incredibly interesting. The writing in this book was incredibly choppy and abrupt and it honestly ticked me off at first. But, strangely, it fit the plot. This novel is fast-paced and action-packed. Looking back, I don’t think there was really a pause in the adventure contained in Riot! That being said, a lot of Mussi’s world that she was trying to communicate in this novel was lost on me because the writing was not good.

It seemed like this novel could have been set in the here and now, but Tia Thompson, an intelligent young girl, is facing “the snip”. There’s problems with overpopulation and people everywhere are protesting being “snipped” (AKA not being able to reproduce). It was an interesting storyline and, yes, it kept me reading.

Also, Cobain was a nice character. A little rough around the edges, but I warmed up to him eventually. Cobain and Tia were a nice match and I enjoyed their dialogue. Overall, I liked this book. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad. The writing was poor, but for this story plot, I could get over that. I’d suggest this to anyone who isn’t a stickler when it comes to writing style because this dystopian plot is interesting. Plus, Tia is one BA computer hacker.