The Booker Effect

About the Book

“The Booker Effect displays a jaunty energy and compelling forward momentum. The writing is consistently assured and the dialogue is especially well-handled. The novel is marked throughout by good humour and satire with engaging forays into philosophy, literature, mathematics, and pop music. This is an original work whose themes are explored with panache and a quirky wisdom.”
—Ed Kavanagh, Author, Musician, and Teacher

When schools become plagued by terrorism and teenage anarchy, Max Booker, a German-born educator with a no-nonsense attitude proposes a solution—a special “Educational Police” department along with a scientifically-based system of corporal punishment. When the public becomes polarized in its reactions to Educational Police operations, Booker must contend with criticism of his pain apparatus and rumours of sinister activities at his educational camps.

As a counterpoint, enter Tommy Taylor, an intelligent but rebellious teenage punk rocker. Disaffected with school, he becomes Booker’s nemesis, attempting to subvert the Education Police in his own unique way. It’s Hogan’s Heroes meets A Clockwork Orange—a new Jonathan Swift for the twenty-first century.

About the Author

Frederick Manuel was born in Catalina in eastern Newfoundland, Canada. He earned master’s degrees in Philosophy and the History of Science and Technology. He was a teacher in a variety of educational contexts. The Booker Effect is his only novel. He passed away in April, 2009 after a short illness.