Book review: Landscape with Invisible Hand

THIS is a weird little book set in a fantasy world of alien colonisation. It paints a rather sad picture, yet the story is strangely alluring.
Earth has been invaded by what is known as the vuvv. At first, humans didn’t see it as an invasion, as they offered their tech and invited them to be part of their Interspecies Co-Prosperity Alliance.
Several years later, jobs are scarce due to the rise of alien tech and there’s no money for food, clean water, or the vuvv’s cure-all medicine.
Adam has an alarming disease called Merrick’s disease, a stomach syndrome he caught from untreated tap water. He can’t afford the vuvv cure. His father skipped town, and his mother is constantly looking for jobs where there are none.
In order to make money, Adam and his girlfriend Chloe decide to record themselves going on 1950s-style dates for a vuvv audience, since they crave classic Earth culture.
At first, it was brilliant, but then the close proximity causes the lovebirds to fall out. They try to fake their love on air, but things fall apart when Chloe finds another partner and Adam is sued by the vuvv.

His disease is acting up fierce and his only chance to get the cure is to win an art competition organised by the vuvv.
Everything collapses at the award ceremony, and it is the end for Adam ... or is it the beginning?
Landscape with Invisible Hand is quite a creative piece of work and turns out to be a surprisingly interesting read.