The Preserve
A Novel
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
The critically acclaimed author of the “bold, innovating, and thrilling” (Stephen King) novel The Twenty-Year Death and the “brilliant” (Booklist, starred review) novel Barren Cove returns with a dark and compelling mystery set in the near future.
Decimated by plague, the human population is now a minority. Robots—complex AIs almost indistinguishable from humans—are the ruling majority. Nine months ago, in a controversial move, the robot government opened a series of preserves, designated areas where humans can choose to live without robot interference. Now the preserves face their first challenge: someone has been murdered.
Chief of Police Jesse Laughton on the SoCar Preserve is assigned to the case. He fears the factions that were opposed to the preserves will use the crime as evidence that the new system does not work. As he digs for information, robots in the outside world start turning up dead from bad drug-like programs that may have originated on SoCar land. And when Laughton learns his murder victim was a hacker who wrote drug-programs, it appears that the two cases might be linked. Soon, it’s clear that the entire preserve system is in danger of collapsing. Laughton’s former partner, a robot named Kir, arrives to assist on the case, and they soon uncover shocking secrets revealing that life on the preserve is not as peaceful as its human residents claim. But in order to protect humanity’s new way of life, Laughton must solve this murder before it’s too late.
The Preserve is a fresh and futuristic mystery that is perfect for fans of Westworld and Blade Runner.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A murder mystery in a world ruled by robots drives the plot of this entertaining if overstuffed near-future dystopian tale from Winter (Barren Cove). Humans are granted Preserves to rebuild their society without the presence of robots. Police Chief Jesse Laughton leaves a high-stakes job in the Baltimore PD for a quiet life on the SoCal Preserve. But then a member of the fledgling community is murdered. When the murder within the Preserve is linked to a series of robot murders on the outside, Jesse's former partner, a robot named Kir, comes to help Jesse crack the case. If Jesse and Kir can't find the killer, the robots will consider the Preserves a failed experiment and invade. Winter bites off more than he can chew thematically, leaving little space to explore the implications of the myriad issues he raises. Allusions to America's history and how it led to the novel's present and the implications of humanity going extinct while the robots they created thrive jockey for space with the relationship development between Jesse and Kir and the fun, twisty mystery. Though this is an enjoyable yarn, it doesn't satisfy its own ambitions. Correction: The author's last name was misspelled in an earlier version of this review.
