Oleg Divov “Tech Support”

A brand-new novel by Oleg Divov, fresh off the press, “was still running this morning.” The book Tech Support is presented as if it were a report about events that the general public is not supposed to know. Complete with all the necessary “confidential” and “approved for use” labels from the Schrodinger Institute.

The story takes place in the not-too-distant future (just a few decades ahead) when the Russians sold good-quality, but no longer cutting-edge, weaponry to an African country. Well, more accurately, they went there to sell it. And there, events took their own course, following a distinctly Russian-African trajectory.

The novel is written in a very light style, with a sense of irony and humor, generously seasoned with recklessness, nonchalance, and the typical Russian “let’s hope for the best” attitude. But it also carries a certain degree of political incorrectness that we’re familiar with: black people are called “negroes,” (which doesn’t care any negative attitude in Russian, by the way), cultural stereotypes are mocked, and so on. I can’t even imagine letting a Western audience read this novel—they’d tear it apart.

And the mentioned Schrodinger Institute isn’t there by accident. The term “Schrodinger’s War” is actively used throughout the novel. It’s the kind of war that seems to exist, but nobody really knows if it actually does or what it consists of. This is exactly how the events are portrayed: the protagonist, Lyokha Filimonov, fights for the entrusted property and his own life by the will of fate, while everyone around him has no idea what’s happening.

I read it with great pleasure, but the ending left me a bit disappointed. It’s as if the author left room for a sequel, abruptly cutting things off without explaining some underlying events. Hopefully, he’ll write the second part.

Overall, I recommend it, but I slightly lowered my overall rating because of the ending.

My rating: 4/5