Small, creepy mass murder mystery. My first Ballard, I should read more. ( )

En una urbanización de superlujo en Londres viven unas pocas familias. Su vida se rige por una planificación que pretende dar a sus hijos el ambiente más favorable para su crecimiento. Pero una mañana todos los adultos aparecen asesinados y los niños han desaparecido. La policía recurre al psiquiatra Richard Greville, que llegará a la más terrible de las conclusiones.

Interesting but too short, when the end comes it does feel a little "Is that it?". Quite prescient with the rise in school shootings etc but not meaty enough to really satisfy. ( )

Read this today riding back from Chicago. There are nods to both the procedural form as well as a fairy tale. There is a massacare of all the adults at a gated community outside of Reading. All of the children are missing. A psychologist from the Home Office investigates the murder/kidnapping and explores the estate, itself a community of isolated sanity. The protagonist later concludes that within such, "madness is the only freedom." Ballard succeeds again in casting an eerie hue on the mechanisms of our civilization. Almsot 20 years old Running Wild anticipates the schism between the (virtual) hyperconnections of our lives and the physical barriers we erect for safety and integrity.

Running Wild is likely now to change anyone's life but it remains a sage cautionary tale, being germane to ongoing efforts at exclusivity. ( )

This brief book lacks subtlety but raises some interesting points: Can sociopathy be learned, or at least triggered? Can love exist, let alone thrive, without conflict? Is there such a thing as "happily ever after"?

The author claims, "In a totally sane society, madness is the only freedom." That glib statement seems to me insulting to people who struggle with mental health conditions.

A small quibble: There seems to be no explanation for the mysterious notches and marks left on baseboards and bed frames in the various homes. ( )