The Water Thief

People are comparing this to Animal Farm and 1984, but a much more apt comparison (or maybe contrast is a better word) is to Atlas Shrugged. This is the Anti-Atlas Shrugged. It is the world from the other side of the Objectivism coin. And a startling percentage of the horrible details of Soutter's dystopian multinational corporate world are already with us. The CEO of Nestle, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, for instance, would like to privatize the world's water. And on, and on. This book is a wakeup call. Democracy is pretty much dead. Control of local and national government by and for the people is dead. By default, we are at the mercy of our new sociopathic Corporate Overlords. Bow to the CEOs of the Fortune 500. Pay your tithe to them so they can each buy another Learjet.

When it comes to dystopian type stories, "1984," "A Brave New World," et. al, there is always a lesson to learn or a possible warning about how certain extremes can create a bleak future. This book is no exception. "The Water Thief" tells of a near future where democracy is not only dead, but that it was killed by capitalism. I remember reading Ayn Rand's book, "Atlas Shrugged," and learning that corporations and the rich are needed for the world to continue to exist. This book approaches those ideals presented by Rand and smashes them down. In fact there are times when the author, Nicholas Lamar Soutter makes reference to Ayn Rand's capitalist classic, such as the Atlas square where a statue of Atlas is perpetually shrugging, and various other references that are fun to find while reading this potentially depressing, yet enlightening, story of what could happen.

In the bleak future of "The Water Thief," corporations or Corps run everything and the Leviathian known as government has been destroyed. Everything is up for sale, and if one is to survive Creds must be paid to purchase everything, even air and water. Everyone carries a badge that keeps track of their credits or "Creds." The badges are also a way for the corporations to track a person's every movement and keep track of licenses, such as if one desires to smoke, a license must be purchased and kept up to date. Parents sell their children to the Corps for their futures. So from the day you are sold you owe the Corp everything.

Charles Thatcher is a mere cog in the corporate wheel, he is a Mid-Con, which is pretty much equal to the middle class. His job is in perception, where he finds news stories that may damage the reputation of the Corp and rewrite them to make the Corp look better, and when he can make the corp money he looks even better. For example when a toy injures a child and may make the corp lose money because of a flaw that could injure more, Charles rewrites the story in which it now appears as though the child was intentionally misusing the toy so his parents could sue the corp, the corp then sues the family and gains more money.

In this dystopian future, anyone who goes against the corp is brought to justice in one of many ways. The most popular is public hangings which are broadcast on television much like today's reality shows. The audience cheers as the traitors to the Corp are hanged. Another form is simple reclamation, this reminded me a lot of "Soylent Green," in that the person that committed the crime is so low on the rankings that there would be no profit in airing their death that their bodies are simply boiled down to their basics and rendered into soap. Yes, it a pretty dismal future.

Charles' future is changed when he runs across a story of a woman who uses a means to capture water from the air and clean it for personal use. The problem is that the Corp already provides water for the public and she is therefore stealing from the corp. She turns out to be an heiress to a major European Corp and has shifted her allegiances and seeks to bring back the Leviathan of Government. Charles turns her story and rewrites it to get more money for the Corp. But he can't seem to let the idea of the Water Thief out of his head.

Charles' wife leaves him, which turns out to be a corporate move for the both of them, marriage in this world is no longer based on love or procreation but rather how this can make money for the parties involved. A perfect example of the lack of love is that in a super excited state, the wife gives Charles a gift of a porn magazine, telling him he should get some pleasure out of that.

Charles then begins to track down the history of this Water Thief, and finds a whole movement to bring back government. This movement claims that through their misappropriations all the corps will be failing soon. Charles then must make a decision as to which story to believe, the fall of the Corps or that they are too big to fail. Charles decision is his own, but he's fallen in love with a woman in the movement of the LowCons, and his future seems to be no longer his own.

Nicholas Lamar Soutter, weaves a tale of the near future that not only offers us today a bit of a warning, but he also offers up the idea of what we can do to avoid this all in the subtext of this book that will soon become a classic. I highly recommend this book to anyone who needs a good rebuttal to Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged." This would also be a nice addition to anyone's bookshelf that is a fan of "1984," "A Brave New World," "The Hunger Games," or "The Running Man." Out of those books just mentioned, this one is actually less future and more now.

A very timely book, truly a wake up call for us all.... A glimpse into the future depicting a vision of a very possible reality for all! Taking place in what's left of America after the ice caps melt, after corpocracy replaces democracy, and any resemblance of compassion and equality are symbols of weakness worthy of nothing more than public extermination, for soap making... Hopefully this will soon be a movie, or a mini-series!

This dystopian novel is unlike any other I have read. "Fahrenheit 451" or "1984" depict societies under the complete control of their governments. The film "The Book of Eli" goes the other way - there is no rule, only anarchy. I loved all these stories, but "The Water Thief" goes somewhere new: there is no government, but the world is ruled by mega-corporations that war with each other, control the lives of their slave/employees (called colleagues), and delineate people into a new social caste system with executives at the top.

Everything is capitalized: the air, people's futures, rainwater, even the decision whether or not to rescue someone from a disaster. Are there wealthy people under the rubble? Then, and only then, is it economically viable to rescue them. Compassion is sneered at as an illusion or worse, a crime.

It is particularly timely after the economic crisis of recent years. There's plenty of philosophical (yet accessible) dialog and plot twists. I found myself hoping for a sequel. Best fiction I have read in years.

One of the most extraordinary novels I've read. It's not really science fiction. It's too close for that. The hero Charlie Thatcher, is Everyman in a cubicle. In a future where the libertarian ideal of "the invisible hand" has run amok, where air and water are not free, but must be earned from the corporation, where Greed is not merely good, but God, Charlie finds himself through a girl (natch), and comes to deal with the casual paranoia and cruelty of his society. In a world where every social encounter is an ambush, and everything has it's price, what is the value of compassion?

I had expected, quite frankly, something far less profound. I'm politically active myself, and was interested in the premise of the 1% getting it's way in the next election. I especially liked the scene where Charlie's wife gives him a porn magazine as a gift, so he can satisfy himself. "It only cost 5 caps." What would it cost him to actually score a home run?

Soutter has blended the immediacy of business (which Steinbeck referred to as just another way to lie) with the darkness 1984. The difference lies in the details. There's the sleazy Benjamin, always sneaking around to steal an advantage. The mysterious Linus, with whom Charlie has weekly pep talks about the merits of corporate worship, serves as the spokesman for selfishness. Soutter is too smart to have them meet in in an office. He places them on mutual ground, in an upscale coffee shop. When disaster strikes, these two characters are only concerned about saving their corporate assets.

A great read. Can't wait for the next Soutter. Maybe something in a noir?

I came upon The Water Thief after reading a favorable review in Salon.com. I just finished it, and this morning am "digesting" the ending, which I did not expect. I like how Soutter allows the reader to see our existing world with a pair of new eyes, as he depicts a dark and depressing version that is convincingly shown to be right around the corner. His thesis is strongly developed, almost in caricature form, as he shows how an unrestrained system of capitalism has in a recognizably near future saturated the thinking, beliefs and sense of history of citizens. Oddly missing from this book, and unexplained, is a parallel discussion of the fate of government, which the reader is led to believe has been reduced to impotence. At present in the US, revelations about NSA spying and increased restrictions of personal liberty make me wish that Soutter would write a similarly vivid and imaginative depiction of a world where government has deemed every normal act and thought illegal. We see, for example, how Philip K. Dick's notion of "pre-crime" is coming ever closer to fruition, with the FBI and related agencies tracking the Facebook ramblings, emails and whispered plans of wannabe terrorists, and helping them out by offering weapons, explosives or even the minivan to drive to the crime site (actually happened). Soutter has the skills to pick up where Philip K. Dick left off.
I admit I actually got bored reading the parts where Kate is lecturing Charles. The densely detailed and nuanced arguments about socialism vs. capitalism go on for pages and seem unnaturally structured and thought out, too smart and didactic to be believable as a part of normal conversation.
While I have mentioned a few of my misgivings about this book, I think/hope it will be picked up by a mainstream publishing house. I agree with another reviewer who was disappointed by the rambling, self-deprecatory Acknowledgements pages. As a print-on-demand book, it lacks the look and feel of quality. The cover seems amateurish. One wonders who is the publisher, why are the margins so narrow, why are there a half dozen instances of missing words, why did the author need to rely on Kirkus Reviews, which normally charges a fee to write reviews?
This is a major dystopian novel, which should be picked up by a mainstream publisher, and not self-published!
I will be thinking of this book for a long time, testing the author's scenarios against unfolding current events. I recommend it.

The Water Thief is packed full of no-holds-barred social and political commentary. Soutter identifies everything that is wrong with capitalism and what happens when the free market runs rampant. Plus, it's a great story that keeps you guessing to the very end. This is not for a casual reader -- it's a thinking book that raises questions and then dares to answer them and dares you to to say it's wrong.

What life will be like when corporations completely overthrow our people's governments. Though a science fiction story of the near future this book will show you how intrusive corporations will involve themselves in your everyday life. The story explains how corporations will legate you for civil punitive damages into debtors prison if you so much as hint through your freedom of speech right to criticize the intrusive and unfairness of a few to big to fail corporations. A very dark read of how the current bribery system that corporations use in the name of political donations will tighten their control over our government.

Not a bed time story. Few dystopian novel are. But if it is a critique of Randian Utopia you are looking for this is the book.

Soutter's book takes the haze off the crystal ball as we peer into a society not too far in the future. Most of the background of this novel is already evident in the USA today and it's not much of a stretch to envision the horrible consequences for our society if we continue on our present course. A call to arms for resistance to corporate domination of our society.