Ariel Djanikian's debut novel The Office of Mercy can trace its lineage to Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. In a post-apocalyptic world, humanity exists in small domes or habitats scattered across the North American continent. There are other habitats outside the North American zone, but the grim fact is that the earth's human population dropped dramatically from seven billion to a few million or less.

The humans who live in domes, isolated from the rugged nature outside, appear to be decanted not born, much like in Huxley's novel. Currently, there are four “generations” in habitat Anerica-Five, with one more gestating in pods. Each generation goes by their sequential names: alpha, beta, gamma, etc. They view themselves as much a part of their generation as individuals. The younger generation also reveres the alphas, who are over 200 years old.

Yet, there's a catch. There are other humans outside the habitats, and they are being killed in the thousands by members of each dome's special teams called The Office of Mercy. The dome inhabitants see it as their duty to end suffering in any form. Any life outside the habitat they view as nasty, brutish, and short. They hold that the rules of mercy dictate that they must alleviate suffering through instant death. Hunger, disease and superstition create unhappy and pointless lives, and the more enlightened people in the habitats view their role as necessary. To this end, they track all those outside, and when they believe the time is right, bomb them into oblivion.

Natasha Wiley, a young Gamman, works in the Office of Mercy, but as an observer only. She has not yet sent a missile to destroy young boys or girls, adults, or old people who travel in tribes through the land seeking food. Still, she is haunted by memories from childhood, and feels a sort of affinity or fascination for the savages outside the dome. Natasha is taken under the wing of Jeffrey, a zealous co-worker and her mentor. He is a generation older than her, and has personally fired missiles to kill hundreds of outsiders. She appears somewhat infatuated with Jeffrey, and is thrilled when she is selected to join a small team that will explore the outside. Their intent is both to scout the area and repair some of the cameras that have failed.

Despite intensive preparation and training, the young team encounters problems almost from the moment they set foot outside the dome. They come face to face with the savages, and for a brief while Natasha is their captive, before she manages to return to her team and back to safety. Like the Savage in Huxley's Brave New World, Djanikian's protagonist, Natasha, finds her world thrust upside down. Are the savages truly savage? Is their Office of Mercy merciful? A small group of dissenters bring Natasha into their fold, and they hatch a plot to equalize the current balance of power. They ally themselves with people outside, who state that they seek an end to the killings; in essence, remote-controlled drone attacks on innocent people.

But young Natasha is too naive to understand what's going on, both inside and outside her safe dome. As layers of both conspiracies are peeled away, we learn the true history of what caused the domes to be built, and the identities of the alphas, the people outside the dome, and even Natasha herself. When events come to a head, betrayals and counter-betrayals shatter Natasha's world. In the after-effects of her actions, her friends and co-conspirators experience similar reversals of opinion that Julia and Winston went through in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, where they “learned to love big brother.” Djanikian's novel may lack the ultimate power of Orwell and Huxley, but it is a well-told tale, a captivating story with an unexpected reveal. The stark ways in which those in the dome rationalize their actions portray “the humanitarians with a guillotine.” Evil does not always chuckle and wear a monocle; far too often we justify it through the best intentions.