He and his father argue about The Convergence after Ross reveals that he cannot bear life without Artis and intends to have himself frozen, despite having no known health issues, using the process called “Zero K.” Jeffrey observes several bizarre aspects of the facility there are screens that seemingly randomly display disasters and horrific events from around the world mannequin-like figures scattered about a man Jeffrey names “The Monk” who wears a monk’s robes and interacts with those preparing for freezing-but who seems to have no faith in the project. He counts and names things constantly, making him seem more of an observer than a participant. Jeffrey has a tendency to name the people and things around him, often using quite fanciful names. Ross informs Jeffrey that Artis is to be frozen and preserved until such time as her medical condition can be cured, and she can be restored to life. Ross, an extremely wealthy businessman, abandoned Jeffrey and his mother, Madeline, when Jeffrey was very young. Upon arrival at the facility, called The Convergence, Jeffrey meets his father, Ross Lockhardt. Artis is much younger than his father and suffers from multiple sclerosis. As the book opens, he is traveling to a mysterious, isolated location to pay his final respects to his stepmother, Artis. He is a disaffected, aimless man who has worked several meaningless, unsatisfying jobs and engaged in several meaningless and unsatisfying relationships. Zero K explores themes of mortality and fear, which DeLillo has explored before (most notably in his novel White Noise) but inverts them here so that the fear is not of death and the unknown that follows, but of life and the unknown future.

The story involves a billionaire, his estranged son, Jeffrey, from a first marriage (who is also the narrator), and a mysterious, unnamed organization running an isolated facility where people are frozen and preserved before they die, in the hope of being revived later. Zero K (2016), a dark, post-modern science fiction novel by Don DeLillo, uses a sense of disconnection and an aura of oppressive paranoia (as in most DeLillo novels) to interrogate the fundamental fact that human beings are incapable of truly understanding their existence.

Zero k delillo