Warning: Views is not for the faint of heart. It’s more visceral than many of the books I review on GeekDad. It deals with themes of racism, rape and sexual abuse. It examines social media and our increasingly sinister and destructive relationship with technology.
Views is set in Germany and follows Yashira Saad, a chief inspector at the German FBI. Yashira and her team are trying to find Lena, a missing girl, who appears in a viral video that shows her being raped by a group of African immigrants. Views charts Yashira’s investigation, its personal cost and the cultural and political fallout in a powder keg Berlin.
This review is a modified version of one I wrote on my personal blog PotsandPlots.
What Is Views?
This is a slim thriller that comes in at just over 200 pages. Views is a police procedural and an examination of tensions that are rife in Europe right now. It examines how social media and AI are being used to fan the flames in a world where views are everything and truth is the first casualty. It’s an unflinching look at modern society and the divisions and barriers that are being created across the world.
Why Read Views?
It’s hard to say too much more about the storyline of Views without revealing key plot points. It’s a taut thriller, with businesslike cops, desperate to prevent a tragedy and further violence erupting on the streets.
I found Views had obvious parallels to the real-life events, here in the UK, after the Southport murders. As well as being a thriller, Views doubles as an examination of the rise of anti-immigrant sentiment and its manipulation to foment unrest. While the book takes place on the streets of Berlin, it’s easy to translate its events to the UK or indeed many other European cities.
Arguably, the book is less about the actual crime itself and more about its repercussions throughout society. How reaction to it runs out of control on social media. The book is called Views, after all. This is a story about misinformation and fake news. It’s designed to wake us up.
As a 50-something-year-old (and despite being a GeekDad), I increasingly have little idea what technology can do. I’m stuck in a worldview probably two decades old. I don’t even understand what technology could do five years ago, let alone what it’s capable of now. With the rise and rise of AI, things are about to become a whole lot worse.
It is particularly interesting reading Views as a Brit writing for the predominantly US audience here on GeekDad. The online right in the US seems very keen to portray London (and other parts of the UK and Europe) as no-go areas. As someone who regularly visits the capital, I can happily report that this is nonsense. London is a great place to visit. Views taps into the same misinformation/hysteria axis. Facts are irrelevant; the aim is to cause a disturbance by stoking fear and tension. The right-wing parties in the UK do it too. It’s about “othering” to increase the divide. Views examines how explosive this can be.
Views is a wake-up call to the fact that the world has changed. Politicians and law enforcement are behind the curve, and they need to catch up quickly, lest tech-savvy troublemakers push us into a place of nightmares. Some would say we’re already there.
I’ve already mentioned the dark nature of this book. This is exemplified by the novel’s ending, which pushes things to the limit. I wasn’t wholly sold on the conclusion here; I’d have preferred something different. Something safer.
The sign of a good novelist is when they give their readers what they need rather than what they want. I may not have liked the ending, but there is no doubting its power, or that it made me consider the ramifications of Views all the more deeply.
Views is not a book to be enjoyed, but it is vital reading. So much so that I have also ordered Marc-Uwe King’s previous novel, Qualityland. This is a book that forces us to confront the unpalatable nature of societal division and the power of modern tools to promote it. Tools that most of us barely begin to understand.
If you would like to pick up a copy of Views, you can do so here. It’s published on May 19th. (Affiliate Link)
If you enjoyed this review, check out my other book reviews, here.
I received a copy of this book in order to write this review.
