Just Finished Reading: The Technocrats by Forest W Horton, Jr (FP: 1980) [312pp]

He was elected as a technocrat so his love of computers didn’t really surprise anyone. What caused the odd eye-brow rise was his requirement to have just so many of the damned things – in the Oval office, throughout the Whitehouse and even in his private bedroom. His team had been upgrading the communications net to put the President in touch with all the departments under his control and even had a data hub installed in a nearby building complete with a team of technicians and advisors. Whenever the President held a meeting he sat in his specially modified chair with a data screen ready to be activated. Despite the complexity of the issues put in front of him he still managed to arrive at conclusions swiftly and with a comprehension of the problems that astounded everyone. People jokingly said he was half machine and even the press started calling him the ‘Six Million Dollar President’. Needless to say the President of the United States was less than impressed with this. But it was when the President started to act strangely that people began to stare and ask questions. In the middle of a meeting he would just stop and stare off into space for a minute or more and then continue as if nothing had happened. Known for his temper he would fly into a rage and then, almost in the blink of an eye, switch to his public calm persona. His doctor scheduled tests but found nothing wrong. But the incidents began to happen more frequently. Stress? Encroaching old age? Early senility? Or something more sinister? Was it the Russians interfering with the Whitehouse computers? The Technocrats said no, everything was secure. But where did that leave them? With someone having access to the nuclear trigger they had to find out why the President was acting so strangely – FAST.

This was a borderline Sci-Fi techno thriller we’ve become so familiar with over the last 20 or so years. Having been written when it was the ‘technology’ is laughingly crude but must have been cutting edge in 1980 as was the fear of technology – especially the fear of technocrats working behind the scenes pulling political strings to get their own way. I think this was the heart of this reasonably told tale. Rather heavy-handed at times the characterisation was fine as was the overall story and pacing. It had some nice moments of tension and a suitably slimy ‘baddie’ pulling strings and even a half-decent twist at the end. It was, when all is said, a reasonable thriller for the time and the subject matter – although I wouldn't expend much effort tracking this one down. Much more Man Vs Machine to come.