I recently finished this book by J. G. Ballard. It is his first published novel from 1961 having previously written short stories, novella’s and pieces for science fiction and fantasy publications in the 1950’s.

The book takes us to earth 2145. Fluctuations in solar radiation have caused the icecaps to melt and the seas to rise covering most of the planet. A tropical climate has spread across the earth and human survivors have migrated to the now habitable caps. The world has become ‘drowned’ and entered a neo-Triassic period with ancient flora and fauna, an abundance of iguanas, giant alligators and lagoons covering the previously occupied urban areas.

The book charts the adventures of Dr Robert Kerans, Dr Alan Bodkin, Colonels Riggs, Lieutenant Hardman and Dr Beatrice Dahl who are aboard a joint military/scientific exploration to catalogue the flora and fauna of the lagoon that now covers London.

Whilst on their floating station members of the party begin to experience strange hallucinatory dreams and find themselves being pulled into to a more primal mind set that echoes the throb of the sun and the fetid, tropical and ancient ecology that now covers the earth.

As the heat increases, Riggs and a military party head north for cooler climes, Hardman heads south alone and Kerans, Bodkin and Dahl decide to stay.

At this point arch villain Strangman arrives at the lagoon on a hydroplane with a horde of pirates and trained alligators. They have come to drain the London pool and loot it of its treasures and artefacts.

Strangman engages and takes our protagonists as his guests. He proceeds to prod, flatter, torment and woo the trio in an apparent attempt to garner the attention of Dr Dahl whilst testing Bodkin and Kerans.

As the lagoon is drained and our trio resist his advances, Strangman becomes increasingly frustrated and eventually deranged. He enters a state of psychotic captaincy, kills Bodkin and takes Kerans and Dahl prisoner.

Strangman and his men embark on an extended jag of Bacchanalian, carnivalesque, plundering, drinking and debauchery. He has Kerans tortured and near killed while Dahl becomes his entranced  underwater, mermaid bride-queen.

The commotion however alerts Riggs and his armed party in the north who return, confront and contain Strangman’s brigade.

Cue Kerans chance to escape, rescue Dahl and blow the dam that holds the water from London.

Ballard does not seem wholly interested in the nuts and bolts of his human actors, he seems to be more at home with the larger descriptive forms, shapes and colours of the piece, it’s strange tropical, waterborne, hallucinatory quality and atmosphere. When in flow Ballard writes with an associative fluidity that is reminiscent of his mentor William Burroughs. However it is without the bone-dry smacked-out drole of the teacher. It is a kind of free-style but very British ex-pat surrealism.

Ballard is strong on language, evocation and descriptive terminology. He uses words that one rarely encounters as part of his almost scientific vocabulary. He can generate a feeling or mood or mindset or atmosphere in a  beautiful, imaginative and evocative way. It is also highly visual and readily grasped in the mind. .

I enjoyed the book and its evocative shapes, images and colours. However the plot itself is rather perfunctory and Boys Own’ish.

Also his characterisation is slim and the cast can seem almost comic or cartoon-like. This is not to detract from the book. I just let it wash through me like a river. In that sense it is reminiscent of Heart of Darkness or Apocalypse Now.