The Destiny Makers

by George Turner

Book Overview

In twenty-first century Australia, a gratefully employed police detective is assigned to protect a senile old man who is undergoing a remarkable transformation into a young man. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 068812187X
• ISBN13: 9780688121877
• Release Date: January 1993
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 321 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Australian SF Reader

Set in 2069, in a world massively overpopulated, the most seriously crimes are having children, and curing those who are going to die. Set in 2069, in a world massively overpopulated, the most seriously crimes are having children, and curing those who are going to die. In a top secret medical facility, an old man has been cured in just such a situation. In a complicated secretive conspiracy involving the Premier and other powerful men, a detective has been assigned to guard this old man. Things get worse from there.

A chilling meditation on the near future

George Turner's *The Destiny Makers* is set in the same future as his award-winning novel *Drowning Towers* (aka *The Sea and Summmer* in Australia/UK). Harry Ostrov is a detective in a future Melbourne that is slowly dying of overpopulation, rising sea levels, pollution and corporate greed. In this crowded world there are many crimes, but one worse than any other: life extension. Ostrov investigates a case of an old man who is mysteriously becoming younger...the complication is that the old man is a former State Premier, with political connections much too hot for a mere detective. Turner's portrayal of a near-future Australia is compelling: he was writing about global warming and climate change before many scientists even recognised there was a problem. But Turner's particular strength is in characterisation - each of his characters is a well-formed individual - and subtly enough drawn that it's impossible to find any character who is entirely "good" or "bad". Foreign readers might not know that George Turner won the Miles Franklin Award (the top Australian novel award) for his *literary* fiction, before he 'went over to the dark side' and started writing science fiction. Thank goodness he never looked back.