Author: Martin MacInnes
Publisher: Atlantic Books
Paperback
Ant says...
Martin MacInnes’s ‘Gathering Evidence’ may be the most suitable and the most disturbing novel to read at the moment. Pitched between sci-fi and slow-burn horror, MacInnes‘s second novel gives us a dose of anthropology and coding, mycological communication and surveillance anxiety, postpartum depression and... viruses.
A research scientist investigates the behaviours of a troop of bonobos on a high-risk field trip whilst her partner, a data programmer, recovers from a serious head injury in enforced isolation. Both characters are trying to get closer to the new truth of human existence, the central theme being whether the development of technology is inextricably bound in with evolution, but they also just want to get back to normal life...!
MacInnes's prose alone makes this an enjoyable and curious reading experience, give it a whirl!
With extinction imminent, researchers visit an exclusive national park to observe one of the last troops of bonobo chimpanzees. Amid unusual behaviour and unexplained deaths, Shel Murray suspects her team is being hunted. Back at home, Shel's partner is attacked touring their new property.
Amnesiac and quarantined, John is visited by an inscrutable doctor, tending to the still fresh wounds. As his memory returns, John questions not only the assault, but the renewed marks on his body, and the black fungus now growing on the walls. A sudden event changes everything.
Shel is interrogated over the expedition in the park; John throws himself into work, developing new software. Together, with a greater understanding of how much they have to lose, they face a grave threat, something that promises to devour everything.