Review: 'Hourglass' by Elizabeth Means
Pub. Date: 6/01/2021
Publisher: MonkeyTree Publishing
What would you do if you knew exactly when you would die?
Like everyone else in the 24th century United States, ambitious young scientist Evergreen Mason knows the precise minute she will die. When she hears that a sixteen-year-old girl has surpassed her predicted lifespan, she is compelled to solve the existential riddle of what allowed her to be the only known survivor of her biological clock.
But Evergreen’s unrelenting search for answers is not without peril. The shocking truth could bring society to its knees, and those in power will stop at nothing to keep it secret.
Can Evergreen expose the government’s ghastly plot, or will the next clock that stops be her own?
One of the only things guaranteed in life is that you will die. Death is the great equalizer, to bring in another cliché, but the one thing none of us know is exactly when we will die. And so we spend our lives in a fragile balance, at once making the most of today and simultaneously worrying about tomorrow. But what if you knew exactly when you were going to die? And what if your role in society was predicated upon your life expectation? That's the concept behind Hourglass and I found it incredibly intriguing. After two major pandemics, 24th century America has managed to eradicate all diseases and has unlocked DNA to the extent that they know how long a life is predestined for everyone. For some, this is a long and happy life, for others it is only 16 years. This immediately triggered a question for me, however. If all diseases have been eradicated, why are some still doomed to a short life by their DNA? Admittedly, I don't really know anything about DNA, but this felt a bit plothole-y to me. It also sets the reader up for the big plot twist, in the sense that one is already primed for suspicion. The suspicion is a natural element of a thriller, but I felt Means could have perhaps explained this a little better to keep the reader guessing for a little longer.
Lucy is only 16 and preparing for her wake. She knows she will die today, she has always known she will die today. From birth, doctors had shared her time of death with her and her entire life has been shaped by her short lifespan. But then she doesn't die. What went wrong? Was the science wrong or is she, somehow, wrong? And what does her extended life mean for her society? Enter Evergreen Mason, the technical protagonist of Hourglass, who works at Virionics, the company behind the life-changing medical technology that allows people to know their death date. She is honoured to work there and has been working for a job there her entire life. Blessed with a long lifespan, her entire youth was dedicated towards learning and now she is ready to start giving back to her society. But things don't seem to add up. When she meets Axon, the journalist covering Lucy's case, the two start digging and everything starts unraveling. As you can maybe tell from my summary here, I kind of wish Lucy had been the real protagonist of the novel. Her story of expected death turned into unexpected life is fascinating and throws up all kinds of interesting questions. What do you do with the uncertainty? How do you plan for a life you never thought you'd have? Evergreen felt a little flatter to me as a character, blinded by her own faith in the system and occasionally quite judgmental about others. Axon's character is developed exactly to the point he needs to be, but no further. He works well in contrast to both Evergreen and Lucy, but all the questions I had about his life, his relationship with his boss and work, etc. remained unexplored. While the eventual twist didn't surprise me, I did enjoy the ending. While I don't want to spoil it here, I felt it followed in the tradition of 1984 and Brave New World in its bleakness, although not with quite the same impact.
Elizabeth Means is both a writer and a Medical Laboratory Scientist, so she is very well-versed in the medical details behind her story. As I said, my knowledge of DNA is rudimentary at best, so I did like that she takes the time to explain some of the aspects behind the novel's science. At times this feels a little like an exposition dump, but I can forgive that since it was useful to me. I also liked the flow behind the novel. Means wastes no time and ensures the tension throughout Hourglass remains steady, something which should seem obvious for the genre but I have actually found lacking in other books. I did find myself questioning the timing of the novel, which is something Elizabeth Means absolutely could not influence. (Slight spoiler warning!) She mentions in the Acknowledgements that the novel had been in the works for eight years (I believe), which means that even though the 2020 pandemic is included, it was not written with it in mind. However, now that we are in the COVID-19 world, I find myself very hesitant about stories that suggest government entities might be messing with us through diseases and vaccines. Means, a medical professional herself, absolutely does not support any kind of conspiracy thinking, but her novel plays with that aspect. She could not have predicted where the world was going to go, but it does mean a slight warning comes with the book. Read it with a critical mindset. Fiction is not reality! (Spoiler over!) All in all, Hourglass is an intriguing but not very deep book. What I mean by that is that I very much enjoyed what Means was doing, but that it is more concept than extensive story. I didn't even entirely realise this was set in America, although I assumed it. Evergreen, Lucy, and Axon aren't developed as much as they could be, and their world has some very convenient aspects for the plot to take place. So while it is not super "deep", Hourglass is a good time.
I give this novel...
3 Universes!
Hourglass gave me a lovely and thrilling afternoon of frantic reading. I enjoyed the concept and plot Means built, although I wished she would have gone the extra mile on some of the world-building and characterisation. I do also feel sorry for the timing of the release, considering the COVID-19 pandemic and the topic of her book.
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