‘Tipping Point’ by Michelle Cook is a dystopian eco-thriller set in England in 2035.
The world is at the ‘Tipping Point’ that means the eco-system is about to change and never revert back to normal again. The state of the weather is crazy and swarms of giant insects are becoming the norm in Essie Blacks 18-year-old life. She has had to navigate the last two years alone due to her family being killed in a terrorist attack. she hides behind her keyboard while she deals with survivors guilt by self-medicating with alcohol.
Michelle Cook has really got to grips with the details of this broken world and gives me the feeling that this has a possibility of easily becoming a reality in the future. In Essie’s world, drones are monitoring everyone and protests are illegal. Essie and her best friend Maya get involved with a revolutionary group to protest against restrictions put in place by the government in this bleak world.
Essie’s grief for her family is palpable and very touching, her memories of her sister brought a lump to my throat. She is a really lovely girl and very relatable, her life all messed up and wanting to attempt to do something against the harsh realities of that day and age is really what I would have expected from her. Her friendship with Maya is a relationship that is really well described and we see a really close female friendship that every woman needs, but not everyone can always say they found. Even the bad characters were in one way or another well fleshed out and believable. Everyone has an agenda, it just depends on which side of the line you stand.
A very character-driven story which is well blended with excellent world-building makes for a gripping read. I was cheering for Essie from the beginning and did wonder would I do what she did in the same situation? When it is a question of survival, you never know!
Tipping Point is a story that could easily be the truth in our future and I feel the author has created a book that is quite relevant to our time now. A great debut, for sure.
Thank you to Rachel’s Random Resources and the author for the book so I could write this review.
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