'Zoo City' = 'Blade Runner' + 'A Visit from the Goon Squad' with a hint of Mickey Spillane

I recently finished reading “Zoo City” by Lauren Buekes, and I now know why this excellent science fiction novel brought home this year’s Arthur C. Clarke Award.

Written by 35-year-old Lauren Beukes of Cape Town, South Africa, “Zoo City” is one of the best – and most unique - books that I’ve read this year. Set in an alternate version of modern day Johannesburg, South Africa, “Zoo City” is what you get if you combine hardboiled Mickey Spillane and “A Visit from the Goon Squad” with a healthy dose of “Blade Runner” tossed in.

In the “Zoo City” version of the world, criminals become magically paired to an animal, sort of like how witches are connected with black cats in folklore. Having an animal, no matter how normal you may look, sets you apart from the rest of the world and makes you a target for discrimination. And don’t think you’ll solve the problem by ditching your animal. If something unfortunate happens to your animal, then something called the “Undertow” comes for you in the form of mysterious, dark and vengeful spirits. “Zoo City” is the slang name for Hillbrow (a real life inner city suburb of Johannesburg) where a lot of ‘animalled’ criminals and other unsavory types live, hence the novel’s title.

The book’s main character, a young woman named Zinzi December, is “animalled” to a sloth because she killed her brother a year or two before the start of the story. A former journalist, Zinzi has the magical ability to find lost objects, mainly misplaced items like jewelry, keys, books, guns, etc. She does this for money since she has a hard time landing a legit journalism job due to her ever-present animal.

On the upshot, the presence of her animal seems to heighten her ability to work her magic, and most of “Zoo City” centers on her attempt to find a missing girl who is part of a brother-sister music duo. Before it’s all said and done, her car is trashed, she’s framed for murder, nearly killed and has to do battle with a giant albino alligator.

First published by Jacanda Media in 2010, “Zoo City” not only won the coveted Arthur C. Clarke Award, which is given annually for the best sci-fi novel first published in the U.K. during the previous year, but the book was also a finalist for the prestigious 2010 British Science Fiction Award for Best Novel.

“Zoo City” is Buekes’s third book. Her others include “Maverick: Extraordinary Women from South Africa’s Past” (2005) and “Moxyland” (2008). For more information about Buekes and her upcoming projects, visit her Web site at laurenbeukes.book.co.za.

In the end, I really enjoyed “Zoo City,” and I’m looking forward to reading Buekes’s future books. Here’s hoping that she’s churning another one out as we speak.

How many of you have had a chance to read “Zoo City”? What did you think about it? What was your favorite part? Who was the coolest character? Let us know in the comments section below.