This is a good outline of a story. It’s a techno-thriller about a police detective investigating a murder. The murder victim is one of the “chipped”–that is, someone implanted with nano-chip technology.
The supposed perpetrator is one of the “unchipped”, the downtrodden underclass who have few rights. Due to the word “supposed” there, you probably suspect, as the detective does, that there is more to this story.
And indeed, there is. It’s a cyberpunk story, so of course it’s a dark tale of corrupt government officials and greedy corporations. It’s a good plot, but since it’s serving as an intro to a six book series, it has to be short.
And is it ever short. That’s why I say it feels like a good outline of a story, rather than a good story. There’s plenty of interesting material here, but it’s all just handed to us in info-dump style, rather than truly conveyed as part of a narrative.
It’s interesting to compare and contrast this book with Nightside City. Both are books about a cybernetically-enhanced detective trying to untangle a web of corruption, with only their own gut instincts and their lovingly-described sidearm to aid them.
The difference is that Nightside City is a fully-realized, vividly-painted world unto itself. This book was more like an elevator pitch for what could be a good story. Of course, it’s only meant as a teaser for the series as a whole, so what can you expect? But I guess the really unsatisfying thing about it is that it wasted some plot elements that could have been really effective had they been properly set up and fleshed out, rather than dispensed with in summary fashion.
I wonder if this is an example of the strategy where an author publishes a series of shorter books rather than one long one. The idea is you develop a brand that keeps popping up, rather than a single book that rapidly disappears into the bibliographic ocean. Of course it would help if the books, although short, had some substance to them.
I think that’s the idea, and it in this super-saturated market I can’t blame folks for trying!
Sounds like it isn’t a very good sales pitch for the rest of the series.
It certainly left me cold.
Good points raised.
I’m with Audrey on this one, I also suspect that Mr Davies has careful read and analysed his target audience then tailored the book just for them. An old strategy. But, as the equally old question goes…Is it Art?
Roger
Good question.