Work, Death, & Taxes

Working longer and longer hours? Home life disappearing? No time for family and friends? Has it ever made you wonder, what it would be like if you lived at work? In short, if your JOB became your LIFE?One possible scenario is depicted in this futuristic murder mystery; an apocalyptic vision set in the capital of California, in the early decades of the 21st century. Crime and economic unrest have followed a massive taxpayer revolt, with the result that the streets are completely unsafe. Fearful citizens choose to literally live at work, where they can be protected. Civil liberties have been abandoned, as the books protagonists struggle to create a massive database known as The BEAST, consolidating all known data about ordinary individuals. The work force is divided into lifers (who live in their office buildings) and temps (who struggle to maintain their life outside work). Many current trends are extrapolated, allowing us to witness the possible result of increasing social/economic stratification of the workforce, discrimination against women and parents, and attacks on civil liberties, as well as the future of computers, the role of government, and the attempt to preserve beauty in a technological world run amok.