Underground Airlines

Underground Airlines
by Ben Winters
Published July, 2016

Underground Airlines is  set in a modern-day America that feels very familiar - everyone has smartphones, social media is everywhere, there's a Starbucks on every corner - but with a difference. In this version of the present day, the Civil War never happened. In this ever-so-slightly different alternative history, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated before he could take office. In this version of 21st century USA, slavery remains legal in four southern states - the "hard four".

Narrator and mystery man Victor (definitely not his real name) is an escaped slave turned soul-catcher, securing his own freedom by tracking down and returning fellow escapees to their masters. Haunted, conflicted and generally pretty messed up, Victor is hot on the trail of a runaway slave known as "Jackdaw". It's far from Victor's first such case, but there's something different about this one and the plot quickly thickens as Victor comes to realise that Jackdaw is much more than just another runaway.

Victor is a fantastic character. Deeply complex, with a long and complicated back-story, Victor tells himself that he's a good person who does bad things, but he's deeply disturbed by his own choices and the lies he tells. "I do it even now, you see? I play false, I dance and dance. I murmur the stories in shadow of half-shadow, I pretend to myself like I don't remember the names - the details - when in fact I do - I did and I do - I remember all of their names". His complexities keep the story moving (what side is he really on?) and make for a genuinely believable, flawed protagonist.

As Victor uncovers secrets, Underground Airlines weaves a gripping, suspenseful and action-packed tale, equal parts fascinating and horrifying. The world of Underground Airlines is deeply disturbing not so much for the imagine-if aspect (imagine if slavery was still legal!) but because it's so awfully close to the America we see on the news every day.
In Underground Airlines, anyone with dark skin needs to be very careful. Even if you're free, you'd better make sure you don't do anything suspicious. You'd better not be seen in the wrong place at the wrong time. You'd better not be seen in the wrong company. You'd better not be caught with a gun, even if you're legally entitled to carry it. Sound familiar?
It's a different perspective on racism in the USA that makes you wonder how far we've actually come.

It should go without saying, right?

Underground Airlines is deeply affecting because it really feels like things might have happened this way. It's easy to discount the idea that slavery would ever be accepted by an enlightened, western society but Ben Winters weaves in just enough 21st-century corporate detail to make this chillingly believable. In this world, you don't own a "slave", but a "person bound to labor". People are classified by skin colour in a pantone-style Pigmentation Taxonomy - "moderate charcoal, brass highlights #41" or "late-summer honey, warm tone, #76". Officially, cruelty and mistreatment of slaves is not premitted. The largest-scale slave-owners are huge southern companies, the world of slavery becoming so bound up with corporate double-speak that it's easy to imagine the whole thing being somewhat overlooked by the masses.
It's so creepy because it seems like it really could've happened that way - what if there'd been compromise instead of war?

Underground Airlines is fast-paced, compelling and affecting. It's clever, confrontational and very well-written. I absolutely could not put this book down and I could not recommend it more highly - it's truly exceptional.