Thin Air
From the author of Netflix's Altered Carbon
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4.5 • 21 Ratings
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE GUARDIAN
Hakan Veil is an ex-corporate enforcer equipped with military-grade body tech that's made him a human killing machine. His former employers have abandoned him on a turbulent Mars where Earth-based overlords battle for profits and power amid a homegrown independence movement. But he's had enough of the red planet, and all he wants is a ticket back home - which is just what he's offered by the Earth Oversight organization, in exchange for being the bodyguard for an EO investigator. It's a beyond-easy gig for a heavy hitter like Veil . . . until it isn't.
When Veil's charge starts looking into the mysterious disappearance of a lottery winner, it stirs up a hornet's nest of intrigue and murder. And the deeper Veil is drawn into the game, the more long-buried secrets claw their way to the Martian surface. Now it's the expert assassin poised against powerful enemies hellbent on taking him down - by any means necessary.
Praise for Thin Air
'Kick-ass . . . Mixed in with the thriller-esque action and cyberpunk backdrop is a hard-boiled noir story complete with a twisting and turning plot that keeps readers on their toes' Los Angeles Times
'Richard Morgan wants to destroy your Mars fantasies . . . It's a grim vision, but one that Morgan finds far more plausible than the cheerful visions of plucky Mars colonists common in sci-fi' Wired
'A robotically enhanced Jack Reacher [in a] dazzlingly intricate game of political double- and triple-cross, spiced with tastily kinetic battle sequences' The Guardian
'If you ever imagined that the core esthetics and themes of cyberpunk-lowlifes and high tech; corporate dominance; future noir; post-human evolution and cyborg adaptations; hardscrabble urban environments-were played out, Thin Air will set you straight, and kick your butt in the process. . . . Both kinematic and cinematic, [Thin Air is] limned by Morgan with balletic precision and smashmouth grace' Paul Di Filippo, Locus
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Morgan revisits the futuristic noir vibe of his best-known work, Altered Carbon, in this glacially paced and overly macho offering that tackles politics, corruption, and espionage in a human settlement on Mars. Hakan Veil is a recovering overrider, a genetically modified human tasked with commandeering control of haulage space vessels should the crew mutiny or a mission go awry. Overriders are blunt instruments bred for brutality, so the decommissioned Veil is the ideal bodyguard to protect Madison Madekwe when she and the other Earth Oversight Committee auditors arrive on Mars, kicking up a firestorm of political unrest. Amid growing terroristic violence and murder, Veil must confront his checkered past and overcome his own primal urges to ensure the safety of his charge and the stability of his adoptive home world. The numerous female characters, however, are underdeveloped, and Veil mostly treats them as sex objects. Though the story is slow-moving and light on characterization, it tackles numerous moral and political questions, and is garnished with plenty of gratuitous violence. More cinematic than cerebral, it will appeal to fans of high-octane action movies and Netflix's Altered Carbon adaptation.
