The Constant Rabbit by Jasper Fforde (2020)

 At some point in the near past in this alternate world tale, some animals anthropomorphized into bipedal beings (something that may or may not have been satire induced). Peter Knox, our narrator, works for the government's RabCoT division (Rabbit Compliance Taskforce) as a rabbit spotter, someone who helps hunt down members of the rabbit underground/resistance. He's divorced and lives with his daughter, Emma. His life has been rather routine, until Connie moves in next door. Peter knew Connie back at university (and had an unacknowledged attraction to her). Connie's family includes a husband, Major (rank, not name) and a son. As Peter and Connie renew their acquaintance, Peter keeps his job secret and how it was his mistake that caused the death of Connie's first husband, Oliver. This proves a bit tricky, since Peter's boss is a fox and Emma has started dating Connie's son. Peter has a positive ear ID on a player in the Underground; something that could lead to the collapse of its courier network. Additionally, he works with a grouchy rabbit who loves hunting his own kind. 

Unlike with Fforde's Thursday Next series, I struggled to remain engaged in the story, most likely because of the story's structure (*cough* It's moving so slowly!). At the halfway point, I was fighting DNF'ing it. As usual, the world building is spot-on and well-developed. Unfortunately, it seems like there's too much world building and not enough action. 

The growing 'something' between Connie and Peter is also offputting -- not because she's a rabbit, but because she's a married woman who sneaks around on her agreeable husband. I could care less about a cross-species tete-a-tete. It's how she reminds me of a spider woman, luring in the nice and awkward Peter. I don't care that they had an unspoken and unacknowledged thing back at uni; the fact that she's just a little too friendly, stands a little too close and seems just a little too eager to renew the relationship. 

How Connie acts makes me wonder if she isn't trying to use him -- either as a boytoy or because she's a spy for the Underground. (The spy thing makes sense, since her believed husband was murdered by overzealous governmentals. She may have been indifferent prior to his death, just going about their lives and not straying into someone else's garden. But the death could have led her to see the rightness of the Underground's cause. While I can sympathize with the grief, if she's using Peter, I like her even less.)

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So, I skipped to the much mentioned tour of the Mega Warren project and finished the book. I'm giving it a begrudging 3/5 stars because it's well written, creative and thorough world building, excellently descriptive. I just didn't like the ending. 

[Stop reading if you don't want spoilers.]

The ending - the hypocrisy of the politicos, the smacks of Nazi German rationales... and Peter stays behind when the rabbits (plus his daughter -- his only family -- and about 4,000 other humans) return to a natural rabbit state. Connie was indeed a honey trap, but it's justified because she's (1) actually in love with Peter, (2) the Great Binty's right-hand woman, and (3) Peter doesn't seem to mind. Peter works as a double agent (even though he's a pretty big wimp who's relatively easy to manipulate). His bunny-hating coworker redeems himself and then quietly, *voluntarily* dies by *staying in a burning car* he could have abandoned. 

The Fox is quite menacing and goes to Connie's *to kill them.* (My jump forward skipped where he crushed Connie's niece's head between his jaws; but they mention it more than once.) He gets his just desserts when Connie blows his head off (quite gruesome). Peter -- to redeem himself for his part in sweet Oliver's death -- says he killed Fox in self defense. While in jail awaiting trial, two 2LegsGood thugs (vigilantes) *lop off his thumbs.* Peter's trial smacks of the Brothers Karamatzov, with the killing being justified on the grounds that it's okay for a human to kill a fox and Fox was being a fox, rather than being human-adjacent at the time of his death. Peter and the Major have a polite duel so that Peter can win Connie -- at Major's insistence. That's how things are done. Connie has no agency to choose without the Major giving her permission. The Major hops off to fight the foxes and dies off screen. In the end, Peter is thumbless and outlived all his rabbit friends -- including Connie and his daughter. 

But like much of rabbit philosophy, it's pretty pointless in the grand scheme of life. I hate nihilism.