Mitchell Webb and his college friend are about to make it big having put in a successful bid to the government to supply radio frequency identity devices (RFID’s) which will help track terrorists and malcontents. However, their joy soon turns to concern when they discover that they are not allowed to make the project public, more ominously their project is only phase one of some greater plan...

2012: A Conspiracy Tale is a first time novel by Bryan Collier, self published through the Matador arm of Troubador publishing. Collier has produced a book that, whilst technically proficient, is bereft of many original ideas. Rather than producing something extraordinary and thought provoking, which is the whole idea behind science fiction, he seems to want to pander to the type of rampant paranoia expounded by the likes of David Icke - in fact you could save yourself the trouble of reading the book and just head over to Icke’s web page for the book's themes.

The great revelation is no revelation at all. Oh dear, it appears that the human race was created by aliens who now control the world by placing their agents in key strategic positions where they can control politics and wealth... and those pesky little aliens want their planet back.

I had the feeling that I was supposed to be shocked that most of the power in the world was held by an elite few (when this has been the reality in every form of economic and political system that man has yet devised) or that most societies have a tendency to restrict, if they can, the civil liberties of the many. Serfdom anybody?

So even if the book wasn’t exactly bristling with originality, it was at least technically well written. Taken as a thriller the book is paced well with the end quarter especially well constructed. The author has paid attention to both characterisation and character development, but without any original ideas it’s an exercise in futility. Collier would do well to put down his research and come up with something more original for his next book.

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Charles Packer