First published back in December of 2011, US author Hugh Howey’s third instalment into his impressive dystopian saga ‘Silo’ was entitled ‘Wool 3: Casting Off’.
DLS Synopsis:
As Juliette Nichols awaits her expulsion from the silo, on the very verge of exiting through the huge steel doorway in a cloud of argon, she thinks back to the sequence of events that led up to this ultimate predicament. Mere days ago she had been the silo’s Sheriff. Now she was set to perform her final task for the Silo. She had been sent to cleaning. And it was all so wrong. The silo, so rotten to the very core.
Just days beforehand, Bernard Holland was not just Head of IT, but following the death of Mayor Jahns, had been appointed acting Mayor for the silo. But he was also Juliette’s prime suspect in the Mayor’s murder. And Juliette was determined to get to the truth behind it all.
But the silo hadn’t seen the last of its deaths that week. Wracked with guilt and severe depression at the loss of Jahns, the silo’s Deputy Marnes is found in his room dead - hanging by his neck from his leather belt. Amongst the agony of such loss, Juliette finds in herself an increased vigor for finding out the truth behind the sudden deaths. And so she starts back from where it all began – with the self-appointed cleaning of Holston.
And whilst the newly appointed thirty-four-year-old Sheriff digs deeper into the data files that led up to Holston’s cleaning, surreptitiously provided to her by her once shadower Scottie, she becomes convinced that there is much more to this than just a coincidental series of tragedies.
But the corruption runs deeper than she had ever dreamed possible. There are powers working behind the running of the silo that need to stay hidden. And they will stop at nothing to ensure that their rule is never exposed. Or even glimpsed. The pathway to truth is paved with so much loss...
DLS Review:
By now so much of the inner workings of the silo have been established that author Hugh Howey is able to really set off with the storyline that has been quietly smoldering away in the background. From the very outset, the novel thrusts the reader into the sudden shock at seeing Juliette on the verge of exiting the silo into the toxic world outside. And then from this initial chapter we are sent back to the events that led up to this dramatic expulsion.
In this third instalment we are introduced to a much larger array of characters than we had been in the previous two parts. We see Bernard Holland’s dominating involvement bringing about a thick air of conspiracy that is neither subtle nor unguided. The introduction of twenty-five-year-old Lukas, whose delightful obsession with drawing up a detailed schematic of the stars outside, brings a new heart-warming element to the tale. And in doing so, Lukas quickly becomes a calm within the swirling mass of conspiratorial confusion that is plaguing our principal character’s mind.
Interestingly, we are shown a great deal more of the workings and political motivations within the vast make-up of the silo. Furthermore, we are shown how this new subterranean post-apocalyptic society has evolved to adapt to a life in the confines of this colossal underground silo.
The storyline has quite surreptitiously evolved into a tense mystery, with so many questions and hinted clues to a much larger plot being injected into this complex and thoroughly engaging tale. Definite layers of social-commentary are interwoven with messages of humanity and loss. The story is rich with emotion; darting between hope and regret and always on the verge of discovering something more.
Howey holds the final revelations for this third instalment close to his chest, until the book’s dramatic and highly-emotive conclusion opens up the author’s nail-biting hand. The ‘Wool’ series is now firmly on its way. And it’s become a breath-taking adventure that seems to never stop unfolding.
The novel runs for a total of 109 pages.
© DLS Reviews
Other ‘Silo’ instalments:
- ‘Wool 1: Holston’ (2011)
- ‘Wool 2: Proper Gauge’ (2011)
- ‘Wool 3: Casting Off’ (2011)
- ‘Wool 4: The Unravelling’ (2011)
- ‘Wool 5: The Stranded’ (2012)
