Max Barry: Jennifer Government

Reviewed by STEPHEN JEWELL

This book opens with a publisher's note stating that while "There are a lot of real company names and trademarks used in the book ... this is a novel and the things that happen in it aren't true. It is set in the future, in an imaginary world".

But after reading former marketing executive Max Barry's second novel, I have to wonder how far the Melbourne author can push the boundaries of satire before incurring the wrath of the numerous multi-nationals who, among other things, lend their names to main characters like Hack Nike, Hayley McDonalds and Jennifer Government.

In Barry's distopian future, Australia and New Zealand are part of an American empire run by giant corporations, where nobody pays taxes and the mercenary-style police pursue crimes only when the victims can afford to fund their investigations.

Merchandising officer Hack Nike is recruited by his superiors, the identically named John Nike and John Nike, as a patsy in a revolutionary marketing campaign for a new line of extremely expensive trainers. Hack is ordered to shoot several teenagers who purchase the supposedly rare Mercury Nikes, thus creating unparalleled street-cred for the shoes and earning the company billions of dollars in sales.

Unfortunately, the scheme goes awry when Hack sub-contracts the job to the police, who belong to Team Advantage, a rival loyalty scheme to Nike's US Alliance. The police then pass the job on to the trigger-happy NRA, and Hack finds himself in deep water with the two Johns, who are concerned about loose lips sinking ships.

Hack comes to the attention of Jennifer Government, a maverick government agent with a mysterious past and a chip on her shoulder, who has a distinctive barcode tattoo under one eye. Barry weaves a complicated plot which ranges from Melbourne to Los Angeles and London and even takes in an Invercargill run by NRA militias, which might not please Mainland readers.

Barry gives new meaning to the term "hostile takeover" when Shell's attempt to buy out rival ExxonMobil on the stock exchange is met with deadly force as a band of machine gun-wielding NRA thugs storm Shell's corporate headquarters.

Jennifer Government has been lauded as a thriller for the No Logo generation but Barry's book, which is an enjoyable read, reminded me most of Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club, whose main character is obsessed with the material trappings of his brand-dominated existence. Fight Club was made into a memorable film by David Fincher, and Jennifer Government has already been optioned for the screen by Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney's Section 8 Films.

Abacus, $37.95

* Stephen Jewell is an Auckland journalist.