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“In this world nothing is certain except death and taxes.” Benjamin Franklin
What if that were no longer the case? The Postmortal by Drew Magary is based on the premise that death is no longer certain when a “cure” for aging is accidentally discovered by a geneticist looking for a way to genetically alter the color of his hair. What happens next is a look at what would potentially happen to the world with an indefinite end to the human lifespan. People no longer have goals, they stop getting married (because who wants to commit to a relationship that could last centuries?), ageism turns extreme, insurance companies won’t cover bypass surgery for a 28-year-old but more and more people need a bypass at that physical age. The world becomes more and more overcrowded as people continue to have babies but not enough people are dying from disease and unnatural causes to keep the population in check.

We see all of these developments and repercussions through the journal of John Farrell, a man with the “cure age” of 29. He turns down marriage to the mother of his child because he can’t imagine making that kind of commitment. He stops working and travels for a decade because he will never reach retirement age. He also joins the emerging field of “end specialization” when he returns to work. In this position, he works with a company where people can contract to voluntarily end their lives (fees on a sliding scale with the government subsidizing for those who can’t afford the fee). Through all this, we witness John’s relationships with his family, friends, lovers and co-workers as the world increasingly slides into chaos.

A chilling look at what the future could be that’s made more alarming by how realistic and believable Magary’s dystopian future is.