Killer in the Retroscape: A Near-Future Mystery by Bruce M. PerrinMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Killer in the Retroscape is a cross-genre novel. Although most novels contain elements of multiple genres, such as romance within mystery, this well written story puts equal emphasis on mystery and syfy and is subtitled A Near Future Mystery.
The mystery comes when Doug Michaels receives a call from Bette, the ex-wife of Josh Unger, a friend Doug hasn't spoken to in years. Bette can't get in touch with her ex, so she asks Doug to look in on him. When Doug arrives at his friends' home, he discovers Josh's body hanging from a rafter. The death is ruled a suicide, but Doug suspects something more and sets out to find the real reason his friend is dead.
The syfy aspect of this novel comes in its time frame and elaborate setting. Bruce M. Perrin has placed his story in the world of St. Louis, Missouri in the year 2068 and, through flashbacks, the same city thirty-three, twenty-two, and fourteen years earlier. This is a world with high tech benefits like CommCovers, display surfaces placed on walls that can show what's outside or most anything else the owner wants to see. SCAT transportation, government run driverless taxis. Coffee machines on almost every corner that produce “Scientifically Brewed Coffee.” And, most importantly, personified virtual assistants known as virtuants who have access to broad databases and the physical counterparts of the virtuants known as mechanions.
Doug's search for answers concerning Josh's death begins through the ability of Suze, his virtuant, to access information about people and places in the past. He uses her talent to build a retroscape, which is “...a landscape filled with objects from the past.” As the mystery unravels, more information about the high-tech world they live in is revealed, some of it good, but some of it very scary.
The characters in Killer in the Retroscape are wonderful. I love the relationship between Doug and his wife Ali and the virtuants and mechanions are particularly fascinating. This was a fun read and made me think. I recommend it to all, syfy fans or not.
Steve Lindahl – author of Motherless Soul, White Horse Regressions, Hopatcong Vision Quest, and Under a Warped Cross.
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