The Ferryman by Justin Cronin (book review).
I think this might be SF with shades of living in a digital reality. People on the island question the social order and where people have their memories wiped.
Stories about children or young adults living in apparently idyllic situations but disappearing before they get too old aren’t new. We’ve had films such as ‘Logan’s Run’ and ‘The Island’, not to mention Kazuo Ishiguro’s classic novel ‘Never Let Me Go’. Justin Cronin’s ‘The Ferryman’ starts off in a similar vein, with happy people living on a paradisical island somewhere in a tropical blue ocean.
As a Ferryman, the narrator, Proctor Bennett, resembles the Charon of Greek myth, conveying the old to the ‘Nursery’ where they are rejuvenated. While his clients do become young again, they lose their memories in the process. The twist, when it comes, is that all of this is a simulation. There’s no island and what seems like an ideal life is, in fact, a sort of artificial reality to pass the time on a spaceship on its way to a distant planet.
This is where Justin Cronin does something brilliant. Rather than just leaving things here, he dives straight into social commentary. Had the simulation been equally shared out among all the astronauts, that would be fair enough. But there’s a two-tier system here, with an Annex staffed by people who are effectively slaves to the ruling class enjoying the simulation. They don’t have any say in what’s going on, but they’re the ones keeping the ship and the simulation going. If that doesn’t make you think of one possible end point for tech-bro neoliberalism, then nothing will.
Then there’s the sex-free procreation that keeps the island alive. Instead of having children the old-fashioned way, children are sent back to the island as rejuvenated versions of the people who left with the ferrymen. There’s some definite Dark Enlightenment vibes here, the genetic quality of the offspring mattering more than parental love or the need to nurture.
While the novel does have some interesting things to say, especially in a world where billionaires really do want people to sign up for a one-way trip to Mars, it ultimately feels about 400 pages too long. Old school Science Fiction writers like Asimov and Clarke could have set up the scene and delivered the twist ending within the space of a few dozen pages.
For sure, Cronin’s novel gives space for character development genre writers of the past wouldn’t have bothered with. Depends a bit on what you’re after from a novel, but if a slow-burn story with some intellectual depth sounds appealing, then ‘The Ferryman’ should be right up your street.
Neale Monks
May 2025
(pub: Orion Fiction, 2023. 546 page enlarged paperback. Price: £22.00 (UK only). ISBN: 978-1-39871-895-1)
check out website: www.orionbooks.co.uk