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James P. Othmer's debut novel, THE FUTURIST, centers on a futurist named Yates who is having a crisis of conscience. A futurist is a person who is paid to tell his audience --- be they a corporation, a university, a government or some other entity --- about the trends and ideas of the future. Yates, for example, has worked for a think tank and gives lectures on topics such as the future of greed, terrorism, organic farming and erectile dysfunction pharmaceuticals. Yates enters the profession an optimist but over time situations, colleagues and world circumstances make him a cynic.
His frustrations and cynicism come to a head at the Futureworld conference in Johannesburg, South Africa. On the way there he finds a note from his longtime live-in girlfriend dumping him for a history teacher. He is then witness to a brutal and deadly soccer riot and watches as the space hotel he endorsed becomes a floating coffin for the trapped guests orbiting the earth. In a drunken stupor he answers his hotel door to find that his hosts have sent him a prostitute named Marjorie whose services he is in no mood for.
Marjorie challenges Yates to be honest in the conference speech he is preparing. And he is. He admits to not understanding the present, let alone the future. He suggests that the entire enterprise of futurism is a ridiculous sham. He is professionally humiliated (but only temporarily; soon he's in more demand than he was before) and thrown out of the conference. Then he is beat up by two unidentified assailants and finally approached by Johnson and Johnson, two mysterious men who want him to travel the world and gauge the anti-American sentiment in an effort to predict future trouble.
Yates, finding his career options limited, takes Johnson and Johnson up on their offer. After a surreal pit stop in Greenland, Yates travels to Milan where he sees a horrific act that leads him into deep trouble. He sends for Marjorie, who has a violent and shadowy past she would like to escape, and the two wind up on an empty tropical island before going to Pennsylvania for the funeral of Yates's father.
Through all of this Yates continues to question his career as a futurist, the information he has shared in the past and its impact, the nature of truth, relationships, and why Americans are hated around the world.
Othmer's prose is witty and light; the humor belies the seriousness of his subject matter. THE FUTURIST is short, just under 300 pages, but Othmer packs in a lot. About halfway through the tale we learn more about Yates's back story and by the end we have visited his childhood home and met his ex-girlfriend Lauren (by far the least eccentric character in the book). We learn much less about Marjorie who remains a bit of a mystery to readers, if not to Yates. There is a host of kooky characters including Yates's friend Campbell who left corporate culture for a secluded life in Greenland, a part-time model and full-time spy named Chandler, and a British billionaire who exploits native South Pacific culture to entertain guests on his private island.
Johnson and Johnson send Yates to Bas'ar, a fictional Middle East nation, for a conference designed to convince the world that the violent and war-ravaged country is a model of democracy and the next hot spot for technology, tourism and the arts. Yates sees through the ploy and soon enough realizes that if the sound bites and press conferences aren't convincing, then Plan B involves more bloodshed, most likely his own. Finally, after years of deceit and manipulation of information, Yates has a real chance to be a hero in Bas'ar and redeem himself for past evils and misdeeds.
THE FUTURIST is an interesting tale by a promising writer. The novel doesn't always feel totally pulled together; there are so many strands, so many big ideas and it's not always fully cohesive or focused. But it's entertaining, timely and thought provoking. Othmer is right on with his satirical critique of contemporary American culture and politics --- our gullibility and greed as well as our cluelessness to our position in the world. It is not hard to like Yates, despite his flaws, and Othmer's other characters are original and fun.
Not exactly typical summer reading, THE FUTURIST is deceptively easy to read. But the ideas Othmer presents resonate. Critics and readers have high praise for this debut despite some of its awkwardness. It is worth reading, sharing and discussing with cynics and optimists alike.
--- Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman
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