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Alex Kurtagic's Mister
Review by D. E. Hobson
(Source: The Occidental Observer)

Alex Kurtagic, record label owner, musician, painter, accomplished essayist, perceptive social critic and Croatian ex-pat has really done it this time. The latest project of this multi-talented gentleman, who now resides in the United Kingdom, is an extremely well written dystopian novel Mister.  

Mister is a masterpiece, in the authentic sense of the term. Mister could not have been created except through the intellectual design of a master of triplicity — a tapestry woven of literary prose, rich stylization, and openly "hidden" meanings. In addition, the author demonstrates an acute awareness of current events, amazing powers of observation and a healthy appreciation for the humorous and the ironic. 

On the most basic-facile level, Mister is a straightforward novel about a man who takes a business trip, encounters difficulties, and comes out a slightly better man for his experiences. It opens as it closes: with a man headed towards a plane ride. Symmetrical, contemporary and cynical. A novel penned by a member of no other time than our own. Think of a 1984 written, without all the whining and pathos, for the Millenium set. A Camp of the Saints with a cell phone rather than a radio. If Raspail and Orwell operated with spotlights, Kurtagic uses a magnifying glass — and the sorts of things he finds are not pretty up close.

Plunge a little deeper into the mire that constitutes the society Mister is set in and an unsettling picture appears. The year is now 2022 and political correctness has run amok, rampant immigration and hyper-inflation have teamed with Big Brother to wreak havoc on the Western world. The landscape of Mister is a sweaty, overheated, crowded, unpleasantly odiferous world of overpriced, over-processed, over-spiced food, greasy dark faces and strangling government controls. A world beset by a violent citizenry bent on exacting revenge on traditional Western culture.  It is still our world, but our world turned to its blackest, bleakest setting — bloated with affirmative action and absurd cultural fusions, predatory tax laws and world government: the collapse of the West.

Kurtagic should be rightfully proud of his work in this novel. He paints a picture of tomorrow, a very plausible and realistic tomorrow, using the colors of today and he does so with a deft hand. His attention to detail makes the scenery, events and characters of Mister uncompromisingly real.

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