In VOX’s dystopian near future, a hyper-conservative presidential administration forces women to wear wristbands that only allow them to speak 100 words per day. When the President’s brother falls victim to a brain injury, Dr. Jean McClellan, The leading scientist in the field, is granted access - and language - to find the cure.

I can’t figure out how to discuss my feelings about this book without spoiling the last quarter of it, so I’ll warn you when we get there.

I found this book intensely chilling. Sure, the specific premise of 100 words a day is sort of goofily narrow, but the surrounding circumstances felt too close for comfort. The descriptions of how what began as a slow creep turned into an avalanche of religious authoritarianism when no one rushed to stop it was almost too much reality for me. I have been Jackie, screaming at people to march, and I have been Jean, trying to ignore it all.

SPOILERS! 🚨

VOX lost me in the last quarter of the book, though. The plot got muddy - who is double crossing who? I couldn’t track it. But my biggest beef was how, in the end, it was the men who saved the day. Petroski’s gun. Poe’s escape plan. Patrick disseminating the serum. While Jean and the other women literally sat at home and waited. Why? Did I miss something?