Jennifer Government

Jennifer Government is a successful satire of the corporate world and capitalism set in an alternate present that reads more like a near future. Like all successful satires the central concept and how it’s presented seems not only possible but probable.

In Jennifer Government the government is all but abolished with corporations controlling everything. Not only do all goods but all services have a price and everything can be negotiated. Countries don't exist as we know them but instead the world is divided into territories. Everybody has a first name and take the company that they work for as their last name. So we find characters with names like John Nike, Theo Pepsi and just Violet (because she is unemployed).

The central story line that takes us through this corporate controlled world centers around a "guerilla" marketing campaign that Nike starts. They want to build street cred for their newest line of shoes so they arrange for one of their low level employees to randomly kill 10 kids who buy the shoes on their release day.

Jennifer Government gets wind of the plot and stakes out one of the stores at a mall. She finds herself unable to stop the murder getting shot in the process. After healing, led by her dogged determination she heads the investigation into the murder plot.

The characters are developed enough for you to have the appropriate feelings about them. The bad guy is despicable, the little girl is cute, and the love interest is nice, you get the idea. All of that is secondary though to exploring all of the possibilities of a world where corporations control everything. From Mattel sponsored schools to prisoners who have to pay for their jail time to The Government having to raise private funds before they can commence with an investigation.

My biggest complaint is the length of the story. Since the characters aren't fully developed and the central satirical concept is well established after two thirds of the book it could have been trimmed by up to a quarter easily without losing any of its force and becoming leaner and meaner as a result.


-Brian Lindenmuth