''Systemic Shock'' by

Dean Ing Dean Charles Ing (June 17, 1931 – July 21, 2020) was an American author, who usually wrote in the science fiction and techno-thriller genres. His novel ''The Ransom of Black Stealth One'' (1989) was a The New York Times Best Seller list, ''New ...

is the first novel in his Quantrill trilogy (the others are ''Wild Country'' and ''Single Combat'') and is a

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

thriller set in the mid-1990s. After the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

collapses, as a consequence of the events described in General Sir John Hackett's book ''The Third World War'' (1978) in August 1985, China and India form a "Sino-Ind" coalition and launch a devastating nuclear attack on America.

Plot

The book is based around Ted Quantrill and his activities during an episode of

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction are genres of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astronom ...

anarchy Anarchy is a form of society without rulers. As a type of stateless society, it is commonly contrasted with states, which are centralized polities that claim a monopoly on violence over a permanent territory. Beyond a lack of government, it can ...

that followed the limited nuclear exchange which destroyed the major cities in the United States during World War IV. Utah's

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

s gain political ascendancy and buttressed by its newfound mineral abundance as the Arctic defrosts,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

becomes a superpower. Quantrill becomes a covert operative and infiltrates a polygamist fundamentalist schismatic Mormon compound.

Sequels

In ''Single Combat'', Quantrill joins the resistance against President Young's increasingly theocratic

Mormons Mormons are a Religious denomination, religious and ethnocultural group, cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's d ...

and the maquis succeed in overthrowing him. In ''Wild Country'', Quantrill has become a US marshal on the border between an enlarged

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and post-apocalyptic

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, but anarchic elements still persist in the area, which he must curtail.

Reception

Greg Costikyan reviewed ''Systemic Shock'' in '' Ares Magazine'' #11 and commented that "The fact that the story is less than plausible does not distract from its value; ''Systemic Shock'' is still an interesting book, albeit not for the faint-hearted."

Reviews

*Review by Peter J. Andrews (1981) in Beyond, Fall 1981 *Review by Bob Mecoy (1981) in Future Life, November 1981

Notes

1981 American novels 1981 science fiction novels American post-apocalyptic novels American thriller novels Apocalyptic novels Novels about nuclear war and weapons Novels set in the 1990s {{nuclear-issue-book-stub

Plot

Sequels

Reception

Reviews

See also

Notes