The United States. 2030. John McDean executive produces "Vigilance", a reality game show designed to make sure American citizens stay alert to foreign and domestic threats. Shooters are introduced into a "game environment", and the survivors get a cash prize. The TV audience is not the only one that's watching though, and McDean soon finds out what it's like to be on the other side of the camera.

Listening Length

3 hours and 53 minutes
Author

Robert Jackson Bennett
Narrator

Mark Boyett
Audible release date

January 29, 2019
Language

English
Publisher

Recorded Books
ASIN

B07N44B7YX
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	3 hours and 53 minutes
Author	Robert Jackson Bennett
Narrator	Mark Boyett
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com Release Date	January 29, 2019
Publisher	Recorded Books
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B07N44B7YX
Best Sellers Rank	#280,091 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #1,087 in Hard Science Fiction (Audible Books & Originals) #1,262 in Political Thrillers (Audible Books & Originals) #6,378 in Hard Science Fiction (Books)

Customer reviews

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2 star		5%
1 star		7%

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Disco Hat

The Running Man gets woke

Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2019

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Robert Jackson Bennett is a talented author, but this one really missed the mark for me. It's a spitefully thin political screed masquerading as thoughtful science fiction that beats you over the head with its themes (Capitalism? Bad! White people? Dumb, greedy and racist! America? Awful place!) until you've reached a dull stupor and then beats you over the head with them some more.

Now I actually don't mind a bit of politics in my speculative fiction, and I even sympathize with a lot of the positions Bennett obviously holds, but my God, man - is the concept of subtlety a completely lost art? Sorry, I just can't get behind this hackneyed contrived moralizing, especially when the plot points can be seen coming a mile away (oh, an untested radically powerful AI will be unleashed to help greedy corporate profiteers? What could possibly go wrong?) and aren't that smart to begin with anyway. Come on, RJB - it's obvious you're fired up about gun violence but you can do a lot better than this.

54 people found this helpful

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Lowell L.

Unimaginative

Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2019

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I love a good End of The World story...but this isn’t one. The only way it could have been more predictable would have been to....

Well, actually, it COULDN’T have been more predictable.

14 people found this helpful

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Gregory John Ranzoni

More a satire on Advertising then Gun Violence.

Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2019

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Are you Prepared? Do you Conceal carry at all times? Not only do you conceal carry, but do you practice with your gun? How many rounds do you fire per week? Do you undergo crisis training? Do you always wear shoes that you can run in? Do you have a go bag? Because if you don't, you won't get the five million dollar prize in America great game show, thee absolute greatest game show that, at it's very lowest ratings, brings in 64% of ALL the television viewing audience.

You won't get that prize, because you will be dead. And. It's. Your. Own. Fault. Because. You. Weren't. Prepared.

“Vigilance” is a game show with a very simple premise. Three active shooters are introduced into a semi-random environment, a school, a train station, a mall—selected based on population density, police presence, and demographics—and they...do what mass shooters do. Kill everyone they can. If the shooters are the last men standing, literally, they get twenty million dollars, if a civilian takes them down, they get five million dollars.

Vigilance's producer, John McDean, is a man who specializes in breaking down analytical data and demographics, leads a team of other analytical and tech geeks who knows EXACTLY what their target audience wants, bombarding their audience with specifically targeted ads, usually of products that are both being used by the victims of Vigilance's Active Shooters, and the products being used by McDeans target audience, that target audience being the median age of the average American in 2030 someone around 72, white, upper lower to upper middle class, and thoroughly terrified of their neighbors.

Robert Jackson Bennett novella, it's only 192 pages in its physical form, grand in concept suffers from its own format and the logic of the real world. At first read I thought this was possibly the best satire of all time, rivaling “American Pycho”, “Babbit”, and even “1984”. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it wasn't.

The problem that I'm having is that Satire, by its very nature, must be connected to the real world. Even though the purpose of satire is to outrageously askew a given subject, there still has to have some grounding in reality. (unless it's satire of a genre of fiction or other entertainment, then reality becomes an active stumbling block or something that the characters are constantly bringing up...just read any of the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett) This book was written in the wake of the Parkland Massacre, an event that spurred a massive youth moment for gun control. What happened in the near future in Bennett's book that completely squished March For our Lives? How did things get so absurdly out of control that there where 512 mass shooting events in 2026 and why did advertisers and Congress not pull the plug on AI marking algorithms that pepper the news feeds of the coverage with everything from athletic apparel to medical insurance?

It less of satire on Gun Control and more of a satire on Weaponize Advertising (possibly even the 2016 Election). Most of the book is focus on McDean and his team of sociopathic market analysts discussing Marking Activation, demographics, and correcting their AI Algorithms whenever they stray from the script and don't appeal to McDean's target audience.

It's mildly frustrating because Bennett periodically adds the lingo of many of the Gun Rights crowd. McDeans AI TV hosts used the Civilian Sheepdog concept of “Being Prepared” and turns it into a dog whistle, pumping up fear in their audience by showing the white, senior citizen males ads featuring criminal people of color and encouraging them to buy more guns. If this book was more like 400 or even 500 pages instead of barely just 200, Bennett could of spent more time to flesh out in a more convincing matter just how utterly screwy Gun politics are today and what they could be in ten years time.

4 people found this helpful

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Brilliant

Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2019

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Vigilance tells the story of America’s favorite past-time – mass shootings. Reading this only weeks after the mass shooting in New Zealand made this feel even more poignant.

The fact that Bennett was able to take politics basically out of Vigilance baffles me. There was a little backstory on the US and how China has basically taken over. He also goes into some detail about how all the smart and good people left for other countries, basically abandoning the US – but none of that dealt with political reasons. He turned a book that I would have bet a lot of money would have been political and made it into a book based on marketing instead. Absolutely brilliant.

I hung on every word in this audiobook because it was presented in a way that I knew that they were all going to be important. Clocking in under 4 hours – I was hoping that Bennett could pull it off. Not only did he pull it off, he left me feeling completely hopeless and overwhelmed by the story he was able to tell in that time frame.

This review has rambled a bit because I really don’t know what to fully say about it. It was a brilliant piece written at the perfect time in history. I hope that we learn from it instead of the Brave New World and 1984’s where we basically let some of it come true – even though we were warned about it.

Overall, one of the most honest and real books I’ve ever read. A book that’ll definitely stay with me for a while.

One person found this helpful

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orkydd

A cry against the worship of weapons

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 1, 2021

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4.5 Stars. Brilliant and angry. Read it and weep.

Robert Jackson Bennett's novella is a cry of outrage at the stupidity of America's fetish for firearms. In the mode of reductio al absurdum, Bennett takes the patently ridiculous notion that the solution to mass shootings is to have ever more and more powerful weapons in the hands of a fearful populace is the right solution, grips it firmly by the throat and shakes the life out of it until it is dead, buried, bloodied and lifeless.

All the elements which we see daily precipitating the decline and fall of American culture are used as elements of this visceral dismantling of the 'ideal' American's fantasy of of himself as a brave pioneer with a destiny for greatness. Right-wing talk radio blowhards. The fear and distrust of education and knowledge. The dumbing down of all entertainment to the sole purpose of selling useless crap. The relentless blaming of the victims of violence.

Be Vigilant. Be prepared. Only don't miss the obvious as it is staring you and yours in the face.

There is no happy ending. No hope and no escape. Not for anyone. It should make you angry.

mr se black

Disappointing from a favourite author

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 1, 2021

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It's very short more of a novella it starts good but very predictable

You Hogg Hogg Hogg. Kook poll hubbub

FeydRautha

Un thriller politique dans un avenir proche

Reviewed in France on January 29, 2019

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Vigilance est le tout nouveau roman de Robert Jackson Bennett, auteur du très remarqué American Elsewhere publié en septembre dernier chez Albin Michel Imaginaire. Connu pour ses romans de fantasy (la trilogie des Divine Cities, The Founders) ou de fantastique (American Elsewhere, Mr. Shivers), l’auteur s’essaye à la science-fiction dans ce court roman de 192 pages. Et pour un essai, le moins que je puisse dire est que s'il n'est pas totalement original, il est tout de même très réussi. Classé en hard-SF par son éditeur, je parlerais plutôt de thriller politique situé dans un futur proche. C’est un roman « coup de poing », pour reprendre une expression en vogue chez les éditeurs, qui prend aux tripes. On va aimer ou détester mais il ne laissera pas indifférent. Moi, j’ai adoré.

C’est un futur dystopique que Bennett peint, avec ce qu’il faut de catastrophes climatiques observables à court terme, de ravages économiques et sociaux et d’abrutissement de la population par l’intermédiaire de programmes TV excitant les plus bas instincts de la population. Nous sommes aux États-Unis, en 2030. Le centre de gravité de la politique mondiale, de l’économie et de la technologie s’est déplacé en Chine. La Chine est devenue la première nation… en tout. Elle a même commencer à terraformer Mars ! Les États-Unis ne sont plus que l’ombre de leur passé. Sa jeunesse s’expatrie de plus en plus et la moyenne d’âge du pays commence à s’étirer, faisant ressembler le profil social de la population à formulaire d’admission de maison de retraite.

John McDean est le producteur exécutif de l'émission de TV réalité Vigilance. Ce programme a été lancé à la suite de la 514ème tuerie de masse dans une école américaine en 2026, lorsque les annonceurs ont réalisé que les gens passaient des heures à regarder les images du massacre filmé de l'intérieur sur un téléphone portable. Robert Jackson Bennett nous rappelle que ce pays s’est fondé non pas sur de grands idéaux de liberté mais sur la peur, triste réalité que l’actualité nous rappelle sans cesse. Cette peur atavique, Vigilance en fait son fond de commerce en délivrant un message anxiogène et forcément vendeur : « Are you prepared? Are you alert? Are you VIGILANT? » . Il faut entretenir la peur d’une perpétuelle menace étrangère ou domestique, que chacun se tienne alerte, soit prêt à se défendre, et s’arme. Comme le dit Bennett, plus il y a d’armes en circulation, plus la peur augmente, et plus on s’arme.

"People wanted to be civilians in Vigilance. They wanted to be bystanders, to be attacked. They wanted to be under siege. They wanted to stand up, and fight back, and see if they survived. "

Vigilance sélectionne des profils de tueurs en puissance, des jeunes gens au passé familial lourd, ayant subi les ravages d’une économie effondrée, ou une quelconque humiliation sociale qui en fait des personnalités psychologiquement fragiles, prêtes à basculer et à massacrer ses concitoyens. Vigilance les arme, en leur accordant un crédit de points qui leur permet de choisir eux-mêmes leurs attirail de mort, et les lâche sur un "terrain de jeu" minutieusement choisi : un événement sportif, une gare ferroviaire, un centre commercial. Le tout pour attirer le maximum de spectateur. Et Vigilance filme en direct le massacre, le met en scène. Si le tueur s’en sort, il gagne le grand prix (20 millions de dollars). De même, si un citoyen, qui aurait été suffisamment vigilant pour sortir armé, arrive à éliminer un tueur, il gagne une importante somme d’argent (5 millions de dollars). Vigilance est l’ultime jeu de télé-réalité dans lequel on joue sa vie.

La peinture dystopique d’une société américaine dans laquelle la violence est omniprésente et qui se distrait en regardant un programme TV dans lequel les participants sont traqués et doivent échapper à la mort n’est pas nouvelle. C’est précisément le scénario du roman de Stephen King de 1982, écrit sous le nom de plume Richard Bachman, The Running Man, ainsi que du film qui s’en inspire, réalisé en 1987 par Michael Glaser (avec Arnold dans le rôle principal). Le roman de Robert Jackson Bennett peut être ainsi vu comme une réécriture plus cynique encore du roman de King, puisqu'ici il n'est pas vraiment question de s'en sortir ou de sauver quoi que ce soit, mais uniquement de violence cathartique pure dans une société malade. Bennett pousse ainsi le cran plus loin dans la virulence de sa critique de la société américaine, et de la violence qu’elle porte en son sein. Une scène centrale, se déroulant dans un bar devant l'émission, dit tout. Vigilance est un livre lui-même forcément violent, et les scènes qui décrivent le massacre télévisé au cœur du livre n’épargnent ni les victimes ni le lecteur. Enfin, il y apporte dans sa partie finale un twist qui délivre un message simple : le pire ennemi du peuple américain est lui-même.

Alors voilà, Robert Jackson Bennett nous propose avec Vigilance une histoire qui n’est pas tout à fait originale, mais qu’il écrit très bien en poussant les curseurs plus loin que le roman de King qui l’a indéniablement inspiré. C’est une lecture courte mais percutante que j’ai beaucoup appréciée. L'excellence de la plume de Bennett y fait pour beaucoup.

2 people found this helpful

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Kristel Vergara

This was terrifying in the most realistic and dystopian way

Reviewed in Italy on March 3, 2019

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It was a very short book but I enjoyed it. It gave me the chills. Made me want to shake some sense into someone! Shake hard. I recommend this book. Robert Jackson Bennett knows how to write a story. Check out his other books, you won’t regret it.

Kindle Customer

Original and clever

Reviewed in Spain on June 24, 2019

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For some the political criticism may be way too blatant and on the nose, but I loved this political dark satire with a dash of cyberpunk in the form of advanced drones, Big Data and Deep Fakes. The author knows his tech as well as his writing.

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