The Method

Juli Zeh's The Method is a sharp and unsettling slice of an Orwellian near-future: a plausible, prophetic world ruled by a mysterious body for whom intellect and individual freedom are inconsequential.

The Method places the creation of a semi-robotic super-race above all other concerns, using no end of data and electronic analysis to pair couples, and asserting full control over every tiny aspect of its citizens' lives.

Mia Holl is a keen and careful adherent of The Method, and seems to represent both its achievements and its antithesis: with her youth and beauty, she could be one of its stars, yet her intellect marks her out to them as a potential subversive.

Holl's loyalty is challenged when her brother is charged with rape and murder, a charge she is convinced was concocted to frame him. When her brother subsequently commits suicide, Holl's outlook changes for good, leading her into direct conflict with The Method's powerful secret agent-cum-journalist, Heinrich Kramer.

As befits its subject, Zeh's narrative is zappy, modern and innovative, in particular the dialogue scenes between Holl and Kramer, which can be occasionally bewildering.

In more ways than one, The Method is an unsettling book, which was no doubt entirely Zeh's intention. She has raised important questions of liberty and individual expression in our increasingly advanced age.