Blood Orbit
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- $21.99
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- $21.99
Publisher Description
This science fiction police procedural pairs an idealistic rookie with an officer who uses cybernetic implants to process forensics; in solving a mass murder, they will uncover a vast conspiracy. Eric Matheson, an idealistic rookie cop trying to break from his powerful family, is plunged into the investigation of a brutal crime in his first weeks on the job in Angra Dastrelas, the corrupt capital city of the corporate-owned planet Gattis. A newcomer to the planet, Matheson is unaware of the danger he's courting when he's promoted in the field to assist the controversial Chief Investigating Forensic Officer, Inspector J. P. Dillal, the planet's first cybernetically enhanced investigator. Coming from a despised ethnic underclass, the brilliant and secretive Dillal seems determined to unravel the crime regardless of the consequences. The deeper they dig, the more dangerous the investigation becomes. But in a system where the cops enforce corporate will, instead of the law, the solution could expose Gattis's most shocking secrets and cost thousands of lives--including Matheson's and Dillal's.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Richardson successfully grafts SF tropes onto a noir framework in this fresh and convincing futuristic thriller. The headlong action takes place on the sleazy planet of Gattis, where young Eric Matheson is trying to declare independence from his corrupt, corporation-running family by serving as an honest rookie cop. However, his anonymity is lost when he is chosen to assist enigmatic Insp. J.P. Dillal in investigating a mass murder that could give society's masters an excuse to cleanse the planet of so-called "inferior" races. Both men are under extreme pressure: Dillal's body has just been implanted with experimental cybernetic devices, and Matheson is burdened by his inexperience and background. Richardson deftly shows the two learning to rely on each other as they struggle against horrific odds including prejudice and corruption within the justice system to solve the case in time to prevent a genocide. There aren't many surprises in the outcome, but the storytelling is outstanding.