M, le bord de l'abîme by Bernard Minier (review)

In his seventh novel, Bernard Minier sidelines his favorite police chief, traditionalist Martin Servaz, in order to create a detective story that forays into new French literary territory. The resulting techno-novel, despite its disorienting futuristic feel, is actually set in a present fleshed out from the author's travel experience in Hong Kong and his substantial research on contemporary digital technology (which he documents in the novel's bibliography). This atmosphere forms the backdrop for a thriller that makes a strong statement on the dangers of our dependence on artificial intelligence. Protagonist Moïra Chevalier arrives in Hong Kong eager to join Ming Inc.'s highly specialized interdisciplinary team. Her charge is to hone the perceptive abilities of DEUS, a self-learning chatbot, poised to become the most sophisticated virtual assistant in the world. As Moïra strives to adapt to her new surroundings and the rigorous demands of her employer, she is approached by police agents soliciting her help. They claim that a serial killer is exploiting the data collected by Ming Inc. to profile his eventual victims. Moïra, sensing fear and secrecy in her coworkers, and the strange interest that Ming Jianfeng, the company's CEO, has taken in her, is unsure whom she should trust, and decides to do some detective work herself. The ensuing scenes are entertaining, particularly Moïra's interactive training sessions with DEUS itself, but the plot is often predictable and the characters underdeveloped. The real strength of the novel lies in the atmosphere of the city itself, whose presence increasingly dominates the thriller. Minier gives us vivid immersive sequences of Hong Kong's diverse neighborhoods, where extreme poverty borders high-tech luxury, and impressive descriptions of Ming Inc.'s futuristic campus. The insidious nature of Ming Inc.'s highly regulated business environment, whose sensors, software, drones, and bots penetrate into all aspects of its employees' private lives, is eerie and unsettling. Excursions by Moïra and other characters into the metropolis reveal rampant socioeconomic inequalities and a thriving illicit underground. Cultural contrasts between French and Chinese business practices, social behaviors and attitudes complement the geographical and historical explorations, effectively heightening the reader's sensation of culture shock. Fact and fiction are cleverly mixed to create a world that is terrifying, not because of the serial killer on the loose, but because of the capacity of the technology evolving without legal constraints. Information technology, like the Hong Kong drug trade and prostitution rings, is shown as a means of powering the municipality's lopsided economy, where the oligarchy that runs it becomes wealthier by profiting from the poor's weaknesses. This novel reminds the reader that although the facile reality proposed by the digital world appears beneficial and attractive, it can become another tool wielded by those with power to exploit its users and manipulate their desires.