A funny and frightening journey into the future

Joanna Kavenna's Zed is set in a recognisable London which is far from wildly futuristic – we’re not talking Bladerunner – but one where digital technology has extended its capabilities, especially as regards artificial intelligence

FICTION: Zed, By Joanna Kavenna, Faber & Faber, €21

As the song goes, imagining a better world is easy if you try. With equal ease, we can picture a world more terrible than the one we inhabit. The light at the end of the tunnel may be the headlight of another train approaching from the opposite direction. Joanna Kavenna’s thought-provoking new novel Zed considers this possibility.

Kavenna conjures up a giant network company, ...