Ready to enjoy an amazing read this 2020? Take a look at this great book…

The F*ck-It List by John Niven

Genre: Fiction
Publisher: William Heinemann
Source: Random Things Tours
Rating: 5/5
Amazon, Hive

About The Book

Set in a near-future America, an America that has borne two terms of Trump Presidency and is now in the first term of Donald’s daughter as president, Frank Brill, a retired small-town newspaper editor, lives in a world where the populist policies Trump is currently so keen to pursue have been a reality for some years and are getting even more extreme – an erosion of abortion rights, less and less gun control, xenophobic immigration policies.
Frank, a good man, has just been given a terminal diagnosis. Rather than compile a bucket list of all the things he’s ever wanted to do in his life, he instead has at the ready his ‘fuck-it list’. Because Frank has had to endure more than his fair share of personal misfortune. And he has the names of those who are to blame for the tragedies that have befallen him.
But eventually, as he becomes more accustomed to dishing out cold revenge and the stakes get higher and higher, and with a rogue county sheriff on his tail, there only remains one name left at the bottom of his fuck-it list.

My Thoughts

This had been a twisted and dark read, based in America in the near future. The main character, Frank Brill, has decided that after being diagnosed with a terminal illness it’s time to “help” a little the world he is living in and follow his own “The F*ck-It List”. I really don’t have words to explain how this book has surprised and scared me at the same time, is this really the future that’s waiting for us?
The book is told like a diary, between Frank’s memories, thoughts and actions and some of the political/social situation of the world he is living, in a country where the Trump’s are still in the power, arms are everywhere and immigrants are haunted and terrorised. The reader can only hope that this is only fiction and will never be a reality.
This has been a quick read, I’ll be honest to say that I am not sure if I finished so quickly because I couldn’t put it down or because it was not that long, I finished it within a couple of hours and haven’t stop thinking about it since then. The story is not difficult to follow and to understand, a man who has always been good decides that now that is dying it’s time to avenge all his loved ones. But for me the most important part of the story is how the author has created the most horrible America we could imagine, where arms are available for everyone (for a price, of course), anyone at law enforcement can stop you and ask for papers or take your mobile because the law allows it. I don’t like Trump and the future that this author presents me is much more horrible than I ever thought, but I don’t think there’s a strong candidate to fight him, so, is this really our future? I am terrified!
Maybe the The F*ck-It List is the only way to change our future… ready?

About The Author

John Niven was born in Irvine, Ayrshire. He is the author of the novella Music from the Big Pink and the novels Kill Your Friends, The Amateurs, The Second Coming, Cold Hands, Straight White Male, The Sunshine Cruise Company, No Good Deed and Kill ‘Em All.