The Blue Light Project

Alternating between former Olympic gold medalist Eve Latour, a street artist named Rabbit, and disgraced journalist-turned-tabloid-reporter Thom Pegg, Journey Prize-winner Taylor's new novel (after Stanley Park) depicts a cynical future wherein the only two options%E2%80%94"Fame and anti-fame"%E2%80%94are equally corrupt. KiddieFame is a reality TV show whose symbolic video-game method of eliminating contestants%E2%80%94called "Kills"%E2%80%94has generated controversy. But when a terrorist takes up residence in the theater, threatening to take it literal unless he's granted an interview with Pegg, the show's young contestants are forced to face the media's increasing speculative narration. The show connects Taylor's main narrative threads and allows him to implicate the viewer (read: reader) by raising a hope of carnage to be exploited. Taylor takes a risk by eschewing the standard blunt-plot-force of the thriller genre and opening his narrative to renegade street art, self-reflection, and cultural references (Werner Herzog; 1984; Parkour), often with an air of indulgence. But Latour, Rabbit, and Pegg, bonded by their resilience, their violent times, and their nameless North American city, finally emerge, if narrowly, as characters. Taylor has a wild and vast imagination, and his work bursts with originality. Though his new novel threatens to break apart under the weight of cleverness, it never does. (Mar.)