Review by Frank Plowright
Avigail Senna works for the Ministry of Compliance. The allegedly protective services in our world love a euphemism, and that’s transferred to this alternative world, where compliance equates to assassination. John Ridley’s political thriller opens with Avigail wiping out a bunch of killers from the Ministry of Finance looking to cover up their embezzling by murdering another minister.
What at first seems a standard, if graphically violent action sequence on a world much like ours, but with countries united under a global government, is revealed to have a clever undertone guiding false assumptions. Avigail is but one of a considerable number of aliens from a race calling themselves the Devolution, able to pass as human and aiming to destabilise our societies from within, as explained in the sample art. They’ve been with us working gradually for 39 years.
John Ridley paces The Ministry of Compliance in the manner of a cinematic thriller, while Italian artist Stefano Raffaele has surely seen enough European graphic novel equivalents (see recommendations), and has indeed drawn some. He supplies excellent naturalistic art, focusing on people and ensuring the many conversations needed to propel the story always have a visual appeal. He defines a variety of people, and the brief bursts of action are well choreographed, and excessively violent. This isn’t gratuitous, but an indication of a worldview.
Having introduced a background, Ridley doesn’t play out his plot as you might expect, instead launching an almighty spanner into the works, with universal uncertainty the result. The focus remains on the Devolution and what becomes a desperate race against time, and the equivalent of a feeding frenzy in the piranha pool. It’s an interesting enough plot for being written so our sympathies aren’t necessarily with humanity, and plenty of surprises occur, but it further stands out due to Ridley’s infusion of social commentary. It never overwhelms the thriller plot, but a central point is about how we idolise the wrong people, following the money, and when what really should be valued is dismissed, society begins to fall apart. Even better, that point is reflected in the finale.
Despite the entire story dealing with an alien race, it’s only toward the end that there’s a single SF intrusion, and by that point Ridley has built up a secondary character and injected greater tension via the choice they have to make.
It’s a big surprise that what seems like it’s heading to a resolution ends without one as this is only the first part. More disturbingly, there’s not been a continuation since 2024. Still, this works alone as a complete twisting thriller, and stands up tall even without a sequel.
Amusingly, there is an organisation in the Netherlands calling themselves the Ministry of Compliance. Are the aliens hiding in plain sight?
