Local author RT Cutforth has written an entertaining and suitably (post-)apocalyptic novel set in Manchester. “Industrial Revolution” opens with a bravura scene of “physical interrogation” (when we do it; torture, when our enemies do it) that recalls the “Is it safe?” sequence in Marathon Man.

Our unreliable and amnesiac narrator, Seth, ekes out an existence in a largely-deserted Northern Quarter, starving but for herb pizzas he gets in exchange for scrap metal. The clock is ticking – the torturers of the opening scene have given him a deadline (in every sense) for when they want the information from him. Information he simply cannot recall.

It’s a kind of mash-up of Twelve Monkeys and Total Recall, with smatterings of the one good episode of the TV show Logan’s Run.* All against a sort of “The Death of Grass” backdrop.

What I am trying to say is this – there are very few “original” plots. Shakespeare nicked most of his, and we remember him for his execution. R.T. Cutforth isn’t Shakespeare (nobody is), but this is a well-written book, especially its action sequences, including a brilliantly-executed confrontation/chase in a windy Beetham Tower.

Saddo quibble: As a health care professional with a smattering of anatomy, I will quibble on one thing – the clavicle and the humerus don’t have a joint. I know, I know, I should get out more. But then who would submit FoIAs to Manchester City Council about this and that?

Marc Hudson
mcmonthly@gmail.com

PS Need some short apocalyptic fiction? Try the winner and runners-up of last year’s Manchester Climate Monthly short story contest!