Dawn of the Unthinkable

Dawn of the Unthinkable by James Concannon
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

An unremarkable creature of habit has his credit card refused at the convenience store on his way to work, and is forced to return home to get some cash so he can buy his daily Diet Dr. Pepper. He walks in on a home invasion in progress and witnesses his wife’s murder. Fast forward to his second marriage and routine life as a property manager for the government and a couple of part time jobs. Blaming money for his pathetic state, he decides to invent a social system without it. His Utopian essay fails to find a publisher or any interest from the dozens of dignitaries to whom he sent it. Finally a black political science professor and a Latino union organizer join him to promote the concept.

This socialist’s wet dream is the second worst book I ever finished. Its pace is geological and I agonized for many days, skimming at times, to see if the author was going to say, “April Fools” at the end. He didn’t. One must conclude that James Concannon actually aspires to live in a communistic society where parasites are provided with a comfortable standard of living and productive people are rewarded by being able to choose an upgrade on their free vehicle. Of course, it is all made possible by robbing the rich. The book is free, so I presume it is meant as propaganda, however, when even the Soviet Union couldn’t make it happen, people should realize socialism is a futile philosophy.

The prose is articulate, but the characters are bland to the point of being maudlin, and several of them play no part in the plot. I am not one of the point of view police, but the writer engages in the most egregious head hopping I’ve seen—often multiple times within a paragraph. The story ends without even telling the reader what happened after the plan was implemented. I guess we have to stand by for the sequels. I apologize to Mr. Concannon for writing such a negative review, but this book deserves it on multiple levels.


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