"The Emergency" | Reviewed by William Winkler

Dr. Hugo Rustin, chief surgeon at the Imperial College Hospital, arrives at work days after top officials have fled the capital city in response to The Emergency, a total collapse of the orderly society he and his family have lived in for years. He was fully expecting to be named director of the institution after the approaching retirement of its current chief executive.

He is astonished to learn that, like the whole of society, the hierarchy of the hospital has been upended, replaced by the concept of Together, replete with ad hoc committees called “self-orgs.”

Rustin finds that his hopes of becoming hospital director are fading. He resolves to continue with his work, yet the rapidly evolving new social structure is pushing him further into irrelevance.

In addition to the turmoil in his professional life, Rustin finds his relationship with Selva, his adolescent daughter, is deteriorating.

The long-standing relationship between the Burghers, the professional classes of the city, and the agrarian Yeoman, previously friendly and mutually beneficial, has turned ugly. The Yeoman are convinced that the Burghers have conspired to seed their croplands with rapidly growing, predatory vines that make their fields unusable.

This is the setting of George Packer’s recent novel “The Emergency.” Packer describes a previously stable society descending into near-anarchy and chaos, fueled by inter-class distrust and growing enmity.

Rustin and his daughter determine to travel to The Place, a locale in the countryside, where their family has spent refreshing vacation time in years past. He has learned of a Yeoman boy whose injury will require medical intervention, but since the hospital has banned Yeoman patients from treatment within its walls, Rustin feels he is called to find the young man and intervene.

Rustin and his daughter enter a world that has devolved into mistrust and brutality. Their experiences with old Yeoman friends illustrate the descent of society into conflict between town and country.

“The Emergency” investigates how individuals and society might respond to the collapse of social order. No easy solutions are offered.

Readers will find “The Emergency” to be well-written and engaging, yet troubling at the same time.

Buy the book