#1 State of Mind by John Katzenbach

For my first book of the year I decided to just grab any book from any shelf and commit to to finishing it as quickly as I could. I am worried I won't fulfill my resolution of reading and writing about a lot of books, so I decided to just plunge in. The book I found, a small red book in my sisters' room at my mom's house, is State of Mind. This is definitely not a book I would've ever picked out for myself. The cover has a knife on it and it is not written by any author I've ever heard of; this just made it more exciting.

It was cool to find a bookmark inside it: a piece of paper from the Lafayette Bookstore some 40-50 pages in. This means someone (probably my dad) bought it some 16 years ago and never finished it for whatever reason. (Honestly probably because it isn't THAT great of a book.)

This book is of course a thriller, about a serial killer-- this I expected from the cover. It mostly focuses on two characters, however, as they try to figure out the identity of this killer. I am realizing I am terrible at writing summaries of books without giving them away... hopefully I'll get better at it with time.

Very obviously the books centers on themes of life and death, but also on the illusion of freedom we give ourselves by employing security measures and technology. It was written in 1997. To my delight I realized it is also a dystopian novel a few pages in. I like to read books that imagined today as their future, to compare our reality to someone's dreams 2 decades ago is quite a treat. It's almost as if I was going to a nursing home to talk to someone and ask them what they wanted to be when they were little. Except in a dark way I suppose.

In Katzenbach's world violence and crime rule. The policemen aren't very useful: they more or less maintain the country from complete chaos but no one really fears them. In this future society there is a 51st State, about to be made official. This newborn state boasts of security, there are no crimes here. That is because everything is logged. Anything a citizen does is in the system. They have these amazing electronic computers that you can use to order groceries or buy whatever you want, and it will be delivered to your doorstep. But it is in a log. Safety and ease in exchange for your privacy. It sounds a lot like Katzenbach knew Amazon would rule the world.

There has been a murder (or more?) committed in this 51st state and the politicians are terrified of what this will mean in their lobbying for the legalization of the state. Will they catch the killer?

The questions Katzenbach poses are important, how can you be safe and free in this world? What are you really paying for Amazon Prime? (Ok That one's mine)
 I'll recommend this book if you want to read a dystopian thriller, but not with too much enthusiasm.


Page count: 532 Pages