Kweku Ashworth is a child of the cataclysm, born on a sailboat to parents fleeing the devastation in search for a refuge in the Southern Ocean. Growing up in a world forever changed, his only connection to the events that set the planet on its course to disaster were the stories his step-father, long-dead, recorded in his manuscript, The Forcing. But there are huge gaps in the story that his mother, still alive but old and frail, steadfastly refuses to speak of, even thirty years later. When he discovers evidence that his mother has tried to cover up the truth, and then stumbles across an account by someone close to the men who forced the globe into a climate catastrophe, he knows that it is time to find out for himself. Determined to learn what really happened during his mother’s escape from the concentration camp to which she and Kweku’s father were banished, and their subsequent journey halfway around the world, Kweku and his young family set out on a perilous voyage across a devastated planet. What they find will challenge not only their faith in humanity, but their ability to stay alive.
The Descent is not only a superlative eco/apocalyptic thriller but also serves as a perfect prequel and sequel to Paul Hardisty’s The Forcing which was published last year. The Forcing was one of the most truly affecting books I have ever read,
“This is an important book, a shocking book, tinged with the feeling of a small hope at the bottom of the Pandora’s box that we have opened in relation to our planet, but with the central message heightened with all the excitement, peril and pace of an action thriller.”
and quite rightly appeared in my Top 10 of 2023 books. The Forcing was a harrowing yet grimly truthful and vivid rendition of the damage wreaked upon the planet by humankind, and as civilisation, and by consequence, society has broken down, the inheritors of the earth, the young, decide that the inaction and selfishness of the previous generations cannot go unpunished. The older members of society are shipped out to camps, with all the attendant atrocities that we are so familiar with due to events we have witnessed in the past, leaving the young to try and rebuild the seemingly irreparable damage done to the planet. Entire infrastructures of countries have collapsed due to war, droughts or floods, with an eye-watering death toll, and many millions affected by famine and food shortages. It has to be said that The Descent is a beautifully formed parenthesis, carefully mapping out the events which began in the 2020s, and following the story in the present day- the 2060s, neatly bracketing the narrative of the previous book.
The split narrative in this book works perfectly as our horror grows at the scheming machinations of the privileged few in our present day, which sends shockwaves of death and destruction across the globe. The ignorance of this frankly despicable group of despots and eye- wateringly rich businessmen, who manipulate the media, the global markets, the scientific evidence of climate change, unleashing famine, disease and war is bleak and uncompromising. There are veiled and not-so-veiled- references to familiar political figures, complicit in this treacherous unfolding of events, all for self gain, self promotion or quite simply because the power that they hold allows them to act in any way they please. People in the inner circle are used and brutally discarded, entire populations are wiped out, and the eco system begins to self destruct, as this powerful cabal, masterminded by The Boss, manipulate events.
I think what hit home the most as these dreadful events play out, is the absolutely terrifying thought that this is not such a fanciful fiction. We have already witnessing some elements of this narrative, albeit on not such an apocalyptic scale, and terrifyingly it would not be a huge leap for what is happening now in the hands of the few, to impact so catastrophically on the many. Through the prism of a young female assistant to The Boss, she, and by extension us, watch with growing horror as this cabal become seemingly unassailable in their power and ambition. Depressingly it appears that nothing can derail them, but resistance can prove a powerful force…
The flip side of the narrative is post The Forcing and post cataclysm where we witness the quest for survival, revenge and hope through the story of Kweku Ashworth and his family. I’m reluctant to reveal the events that force Kweku on his own personal odyssey both in spirit and physically, setting him and his wife and child on a sea journey to avenge a crime, and more importantly to establish where home really is. We see newly formed societies in the wake of these huge economic and environmental changes playing by different rules. We see exploitation, disease, death and subjugation as Kweku and his family traverse the oceans to different lands. This is where we really witness the sublimity of Hardisty’s writing, as he wraps us in this Homer-esque tale, full of spirituality, naturalism and the indefatigable nature of the human spirit to overcome and survive. Set against the corresponding narrative of hard headed, cut-throat ambition driven by manipulated facts and greed, the almost dreamlike quality to some elements of Kweku’s journey provides a sharp counterpoint to the other. The way that Hardisty integrates the two storylines is superb in its execution throughout, with equal weight and drive given to both narratives, seamlessly moving the reader between the two. Consequently, I found myself experiencing an abundance of emotions during the course of this book, from the depths of despair to tentative hope, and literally all points in between, such is the power of Hardisty’s writing.
There is no question in mind that with The Descent, Hardisty has matched, and in Kweku’s story in particular, exceeded all the emotional heft of The Forcing. His blunt and forthright depiction of a world in dramatic environmental freefall, leaving the global populace in the hands of a cabal of power crazed, self serving individuals is both familiar and probably in the light of the world today, terrifyingly prescient. This is not a happy-clappy, whistle blowing, environmental rally in Hyde Park on a balmy day. This is a brutal and real look at the way the world is changing in unflinching detail, tinged with a fragile sense of hope and survival, with all the excitement of a thriller. Again, this is an important book and a shocking book, but one that is totally worth the investment of reading. Highly recommended.
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Canadian Paul E Hardisty has spent 25 years working all over the world as an engineer, hydrologist and environmental scientist. He has roughnecked on oil rigs in Texas, explored for gold in the Arctic, mapped geology in Eastern Turkey (where he was befriended by PKK rebels), and rehabilitated water wells in the wilds of Africa. He was in Ethiopia in 1991 as the Mengistu regime fell, and was bumped from one of the last flights out of Addis Ababa by bureaucrats and their families fleeing the rebels. In 1993 he survived a bomb blast in a café in Sana’a. Paul is a university professor and CEO of the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS). The first four novels in his Claymore Straker series, The Abrupt Physics of Dying,The Evolution of Fear, Reconciliation for the Dead and Absolution all received great critical acclaim and The Abrupt Physics of Dying was shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger and Telegraph Thriller of the Year. Paul is a sailor, a private pilot, keen outdoorsman, conservation volunteer, and lives in Western Australia.
(With thanks to Orenda Books for the ARC)
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