David Callow has a contented life as a celebrity video blogger, until he is approached by billionaire Xan Brinkley to trial MindCast, a new program that will live-stream his thoughts to the entire world. As MindCast evolves, David begins to realise that being a living antenna for the public’s entertainment is more dangerous than it seems.

Broadcast is a contemporary Nineteen Eighty-Four. It raises questions about privacy, technology and thoughtcrime and plays on the bodysnatcher trope. The book’s strength lies in its amplification of our current fears about AI and technological pollution.

David’s failure to question MindCast’s mental invasion isn’t very credible, but his inability to use his new technology in a socially conscious way is much more relatable. He embodies those of us with an out-of-sight, out-of-mind mentality who choose to ignore suffering. David is also a sympathetic protagonist because he is gullible enough to swallow various lies about himself.

David is – intentionally – a passive character at the best of times. But he’s still sufficiently self-aware to understand that MindCast is gradually erasing all meaning and control in his life. One of my favourite passages in the book involves David isolating himself in his luxurious apartment because he is hyper-aware of his own thoughts. The only instance when he shows any real resourcefulness is when he is forced to quit the grid and survive in the wilderness. By this standard, Broadcast is a thoroughly existentialist book, appropriate for these times of technological uncertainty. It also highlights how reliant we are on our technology, both for mindless entertainment and the most basic of tasks.

Liam Brown builds the tension throughout the novel by having several vaguely sinister people contact David, so that you never quite know who is on his side. But, ultimately, David’s worst enemy turns out to be himself.

Reviewed by Tanvi Velankar