Review: Mr. Friday by Graham Bradley

Some sales are to die for - aren't they?

It is that time of year again. The hour is far-too-early in the morning, the salt has been laid on the pavement, it is bitterly cold, and the sales are on. The sales people wait all year for so that they can fight – and even kill – for that one and only deal on an item that isn’t easy to get the other 364 days of the year.

Welcome to a future where Black Friday is a national economic holiday, televised as a gruesome reality show where people wearing gear specially designed to help them hop over the crowd and sometimes kill their competitors fight to remain high in the rankings. Contracted ahead of time to buy items for rich, unnamed patrons, the economy is so bad these competitors often have no choice but to enter this deadly arena every year. Only some are in it for the sport – and the blood….

The Story

Meet Jonathan Rigel Jr., a Friday Fighter who has been at the business for some time now to pay his uncle’s medical bills. Friday Fighters are the professionals who race through the store to grab items for their patrons. Jonathan scans the crowd waiting for this particular Black Friday sale to start with an expert eye. Almost all of those at the head of the crowd are newbies or amateurs – nothing he can’t handle. He still remembers his first Black Friday and the mistakes he made then, but he has grown and become a professional. Most of the crowd won’t be a problem.

His and the other Fighters’ patrons mark down the items they want bought well in advance of the big day, so Jonathan has his “shopping list” on his HUD display. Like all Fighters, he also possesses a nom de guerre, as the name “Jonathan” won’t make him particularly memorable to the people watching online. When he rushes into the store, wearing his get-up, he will be “Mr. Friday” to the online audience watching the blood sport.

The countdown ends, the doors open, and the mad scramble ensues. Jonathan is one of the first people inside, locking down the rushing newbies or amateurs and keeping them out of his way. He manages to bag several of the items on his “shopping list” ahead of the other Fighters but is stymied when one of the products he needs has a digital lock on its case. He doesn’t have the code. Jonathan should have the code – the patrons are supposed to provide that sort of thing to the Fighters, not withhold it!

When he calls his patron, the unidentified bigwig tells him one of his professional competitors has the code to open the lock on the inside of his belt. To get it, Mr. Friday will have to fight the other man, a popular killer who goes by the name Jester. Jonathan knows of Jester. He also has a score to settle with him.

If it is a fight to the death that the people watching this “panem et circenses” wish to see – well then….

The Characters

Jonathan Rigel Jr. would not be amiss among 1980s action heroes. He is strong, decisive, and he knows the situation in which he is trapped is wrong. It is morally corrupt and it is going to kill him if he does not get out of it. The problem is finding the moral high ground and path out in a world designed to keep him caged within this barbaric yearly gladiator game.

The supporting characters in this novella are sketched out more briefly than the witty, sarcastic lead but they still make a strong impression. The villains and the heroes all have believable actions and reactions based on credible premises, and best of all? The heroes never give up. They have their down moments, the times when they wonder if it is worth it or if they will succeed. But hope is the deciding factor for Mr. Friday and his compatriots, and they are not letting that go without a fight!

The World

The world is a higher tech version of ours, with many a familiar but streamlined dystopic trope threading through the tale. It is not, however, a blasted landscape where buildings crumble and gangs roam the streets. Like the Purge series, Mr. Friday keeps the violence mostly centered on a single day and a single concept: Black Friday. Though as Black Friday has expanded to Cyber Monday, that is included as well, in the most fantastic manner possible.

Politics

The only politics are “Do not let consumerism consume you.” Beyond that, Mr. Friday is absolutely politics free.

Content Warning

There is no gore, not even when people die. There is some language but it is mild and sparse. Some people get beat up but the descriptions are not overdone. All in all, Mr. Friday is an easy PG-13 book.

Who is it for?

Anyone who liked 1980s action-adventure films, particularly Arnold Schwarzenegger’s The Last Action Hero and Jingle All the Way. Mr. Friday is a dystopia with heart, so anyone looking for a serious story that snarks while it wears its emotions on its sleeve will definitely want to pick up this book. Those who feel down and out or trapped will also enjoy it, as the whole point of the story is to remind readers that there is hope even in the darkest situations. In contrast to a lot of dystopian fiction that trends toward epic battles that take hundreds of pages to complete, Mr. Friday takes a reader from “everything is broken” to “it cost us, but we won” quickly and neatly. On top of that, it is just plain fun, and there are not enough books that are “just fun” on the market these days.

Why buy it

Seriously, if you are feeling down, do yourself a favor and buy Mr. Friday today. It will lift your spirits and make you feel better. The future is not written in stone and what better reminder of that than a tale of Black Friday taken to extremes, before emphatically being put in its place?