Jenni Merritt

Writer Jenni Merritt's thoughtful Sci-Fi novel Prison Nation is a stark look at what could happen when a society values conformity over individuality.

Millie is a teenage girl who was born in a prison due to her parent's incarceration for criminal activity. What used to be Spokane, WA is now a vast penitentiary where "jail babies" are educated to blindly follow the rules of the Nation. Millie lives with her parents in a small cell that provides the only safety from the guards and the other inmates, most of whom place little value on human life. After turning eighteen, Millie is released and thrust into a world she doesn't know and could hardly understand. Her experiences outside the walls of the prison test her character and her will to survive.

I love the concept of the story. Though similar to George Orwell's 1984, it stands on its own by providing a believable setting and realistic characters whose motivations are genuine.

Merritt's true strength is the voice that she provides for Millie, the story's narrator. Through this girl's eyes, we see two worlds that are not so different. The lawlessness of the Nation stands in true contrast to the dogma Millie was taught growing up behind bars. The second half of the book lacks the emotional impact of the first half, but that is only because of the sheer intensity of the beginning of the story.

I recommend this book for all Sci-Fi fans and anyone else who enjoys a well-written story about the ills of conformism. Hollywood should take a close look at this novel for, in the right hands, it would make a terrific motion picture.… (mere)

Jenni Merritt’s Prison Nation tells the story of a girl born into an American prison of the future. Taught to value the Nation’s highest principals, she’s about to graduate into the real world outside. But why were her parents prisoners? Why is the prison so huge? And why does she feel so uneasy about her release?

The novel starts with an Orwellian sense of displacement, as readers slowly recognize where Millie is and how she comes to be there. It’s hard not to guess what she’s going to learn, but it’s easy to believe in the teen protagonist’s naiveté. After all, she’s never known a world beyond these prison walls. The past is revealed through a student’s eyes, and there’s a convincing sense of preparation for a new-world equivalent of the dreaded citizenship test.

The second half of this novel feels more simplistic, introducing what readers must already have guessed, a world with a dark and dismal heart. “In Prison Nation, the truth can’t set you free.” But freedom might be found, at a cruel price.

Spokane, Portland, and the Northwest coast are convincingly recreated, transformed by the isolation of a nation grown so proud it needs no other to intervene. The author creates a scary image of our future, taking a not-too-unlikely premise to fearful extremes, and leading her characters into extreme need. The resolution is nicely set-up and fast-paced when it arrives, but there’s an eager sense of something more outside. The story’s complete, but it really does beg for a sequel.

Disclosure: I’m reviewing the version of Prison Nation included in the collection What Tomorrow May Bring.… (mere)