O’Donnell, Charles. Shredded. Moon Lit. Publishing, 2018.

If you think the Internet is a disturbing, intimidating creation, you’ll want to stay clear of Charles O’Donnell’s novel Shredded. If you venture within its pages, you’ll encounter the Worldstream, which makes the Internet look as innocuous as a 3-day-old kitten.  Though similar to the Internet, the Worldstream is far more comprehensive and insidious. It sees and records every movement, every transaction, every exchange of data, and every interaction that occurs in public (and sometimes in private) between two or more individuals. It also allows sinister people known as “weavers” to piece together bits of information about a person to create a “lifestream.” Once complete, a lifestream can be accessed through virtual reality by people who — for a price — want to experience what the weaver’s subject experienced.

O’Donnell’s protagonist Grace is one such subject. When the story begins, Grace is working as a civil servant in the State Benefits Department. We learn, however, that four years earlier, Grace suffered from sex addiction which led her to engage in indiscriminate sexual liaisons with a multitude of both men and women. With the help of her counselor Madeleine, she has largely recovered from that dark chapter in her life. Unfortunately, a weaver has composed an extensive lifestream that captures literally every sexual adventure Grace ever had. Before long, Grace is confronted with two grim choices: Endure the public shame and ridicule of men who have “ridden” her lifestream or have a “shredder” remove all traces of her existence from the Worldstream and thereby obliterate the humiliating lifestream. The choice is not easy. If she does nothing, it’s likely her 14-year-old son Dylan will eventually become aware of his mother’s lifestream and perhaps even ride it himself. Yet, if she allows her life to be shredded, she risks losing contact forever with Dylan and other people she cares about.

As Grace moves closer toward shredding her life, she receives help from a mysterious friend known as “The Eye of Providence,” who belongs to a secretive group known as the Cloak. As their name implies, members of this group avoid the Worldstream’s control by hiding their identities with cloaks and voice synthesizers. “The Eye” introduces Grace (who becomes a Cloak herself) to Raul, a man who can shred her life — if he gets enough money. Much of the story revolves around Grace’s efforts to explain/defend her desire to be shredded to people who want her to remain attached to the Worldstream regardless of the social stigma she will suffer. Those people include her sister Donna, who has custody of Dylan, her domineering mother Joan, and her ex-boyfriend Andrew. Eventually, the civil authorities discover her intentions and send drones, “hue and cry” public announcements, and black-clad agents to stop her.

Overall, Shredded is a tense, gripping story that includes a number of surprises. At times, the pacing is slow, but the sense of crisis surrounding Grace never eases. If there’s a weakness to the story it lies in the fact that the civil government that pursues Grace doesn’t seem all that evil. It lacks the tyrannical intrusiveness of Winston Smith’s “Big Brother” or the rigid dogmatism of Offred’s Gilead.* For example, although some Cloak members engage in illegal activities, the government doesn’t appear to be making much effort to stamp them out. At one point, a government intervention specialist named Charity even makes a sincere (if self-serving) effort to persuade Grace to remain connected to the Worldstream.

To be sure,  there are people in Shredded who are every bit as cold, exploitative, and malevolent as anyone you’ll find in a dystopian novel. Those are the men who “ride” Grace’s lifestream. These sick people think nothing of the harm they are doing by re-living the moments in Grace’s life when she was in thrall to her addiction. Upon recognizing her on the street, they leer at her, heap scorn upon her, and smugly advise her to “get a life.” One man who comes to her as a client of the State Benefits Department even assaults her, screaming “I’ve had you fifty times!” And there are more than just a few of these misfits. “There’re millions — who are inhabiting my life, getting inside my head,” Grace explains to her stepfather Edward. “My life isn’t mine anymore.”