Louis de Bernières - Light over Liskeard (Vintage, 2024) **½

Because I enjoyed some of de Bernières novels, I keep coming back to his new books, even if the last ones were really disappointing. This one is mediocre at best. 

The main character, Q, a cryptographer working freelance for the British government to prevent hacking of the most vital computer infrastructure of the country, flees to the Cornish moors in anticipation of the IT armaggedon, when all systems will collapse because some lunatic with skills such as his own decides to do so. On the Bodmin Moor, he meets his neighbour Theo with his daughter Eva, who teaches him the skills to survive on the land. Occasionally, his young adult children Morgan and Charles come to visit, while his wife, from whom he's separating, remains in London. Because of Q's exceptional mathematical skills and high education level, he cannot be compared to any other 'prepper' or survivalist. 

That is the plot. To make it a little more interesting, there are ghosts and wild animals such as lynxes and aurochs, and crazy people running around the Moor : hippies, a man waiting for the rapture, a lone man on a horse. To keep the action going, there are a number of things that happen that have nothing to do with the core story, you cannot even call them subplots. For instance, his daughter Morgan sets a number of 'asks' for her new lover before she accepts him as a lover, like a princess in fairy tales. 

The chapters all have different narrators for unclear reasons, and half of the chapters can be omitted without changing anything to the story at all. 

The novel lacks writing discipline, focus, and especially emotional depth. Everything that happens to the main characters remains superficial. They don't feel love, or pain, or existential angst or any other human feelings that can make literature so interesting. 

Finally, there is not even a moral lesson to be learned, except that all our civilisation may be on the brink of total collapse because of a blind reliance on the internet, digital and AI. Environmentalists are systematically described as eco-fascists, while vegetarians and vegan are also not really appreciated. You would expect then that Q, the main character, shows some broader moral vision, yet he does want to create a better society, his only interest is selfish: to survive the IT Armaggedon. 

You get the gist. Not really good, but if you're interested in cheap entertainment, this may be your thing.