The Down Days have come to South Africa. A pandemic of contagious mirth, fittingly called the Laughter or the Joke, has seen that country quarantined and its capital, Cape Town, rechristened Sick City. In this future zone of near anarchy and constant danger, laughing is banned and citizens are required to wear masks at all times (prohibited pornography now features lips and giggling). The Down Days, South African writer Ilze Hugo's debut novel, follows a disparate cast of characters struggling to survive in Sick City, where life and death, past and present are more fluid than they seem.
With the borders of South Africa sealed, Sick City's residents make ends meet in a variety of often unsavory ways. Sans is a "ponyjacker," a man who steals women's hair for valuable weaves. Faith, an amateur "truthologist," collects dead bodies for a living. Orphan girl Tomorrow cares for her baby brother, whose kidnapping sends her to Faith for help. While the other two search for the abducted child, Sans must track down a missing courier carrying most of his money. Gradually these narratives intersect with the help of a sin-eating psychic, a data broker, the head of a secret library and a multitude of other colorful characters.
These many threads of Down Days don't always seamlessly stitch together. Occasionally the sheer number of disparate plot elements becomes overwhelming or distracting, but Hugo still manages to satisfy. Readers seeking a fun sci-fi/fantasy mystery set in a weird and sadly familiar dystopia will find The Down Days uplifting. --Tobias Mutter, freelance reviewer