Resurrected Man

by Sean Williams

Private detective Jonah McEwen is wanted for murder. Someone has been killing women who resemble Marylin Blaylock, his former colleague and ex-lover. The latest grisly discovery is right on his doorstep. He is the obvious suspect.

The problem? He has been in a coma for three years - a coma he has no memory of entering. And there's worse to come.

Using matter transporter technology, or "d-mat," a serial killer know only as the Twinmaker has been brutally torturing and killing perfect facsimiles of his victims and leaving the originals alive. As legal arguments rage about whether this even constitutes murder, Jonah finds himself in the awkward position of defending his innocence when his own exact copy might actually be guilty.

Set in a time where the lines between human and machine are increasingly blurred, The Resurrected Man explores the future of terrorism, law enforcement, and globe-spanning conspiracies. A perfect blend of suspense and science fiction, the novel follows the complexities of Jonah and Marylin's relationship and their quest to find the killer before he strikes again, as well as unravelling the tensions between Jonah and his father - a man who has been dead for three years but who might yet hold the key to everything...

Nominated for the Aurealis Award and winner of the Ditmar Award, The Resurrected Man was hailed as a "tour de force" in Australia, the author's home country, and described as "compulsively readable" by Locus.

Genres: Science Fiction, Mystery

560 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

#1 New York Times bestselling Sean Williams lives with his family in Adelaide, South Australia. He’s written some books--forty-two at last count--including the Philip K. Dick-nominated Saturn Returns, several Star Wars novels and the Troubletwister series with Garth Nix. Twinmaker is a YA SF series that takes his love affair with the matter transmitter to a whole new level. You can find some related short stories over at Lightspeed Magazine and elsewhere. Thanks for reading.

Reviews

[Emily Craven · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great mix of crime, thriller, mystery and sci-fi. In essence it is a grittier, more adult version of William's, Twinmaker. I can see much of where the twin maker story comes from in this. I love how complex the relationship is between the two main characters and I like how throughout the book it indicates that some bridges have been burnt too badly to repair. It keeps you guessing until the end. If you're a fan of the TV series Fringe, which mixes crime with sci-fi and a kickass heroine, you'll like this book

[Chris Aylott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Williams wrings a lot of plot twists out of the idea of murder via matter teleportation, and does it with some fairly interesting characters to boot. But I found myself wishing for the simplicity of Alfred Bester's The Demolished Man and The Stars My Destination, which did the same concepts better. Call me a grumpy old fan, but I'm missing the days when you could give a concept a thorough shaking in less than 200 pages instead of more than 500.

[Luke Judd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Scifi thriller with plenty of plot twists to keep you guessing. Loved the main characters and felt the technology aspects of his writing was believable and consistent. I only struggled with the fact it is a murder mystery in a world where victims don't really die. All in all it was an enjoyable read.

[Alien · Rating 2 out of 5]

Transmitters, mental implants, quantum computer AIs.
Not new ideas but still fairly interesting. The author presents these technologies in a casual way that does not make them look cool, instead they appear commonplace and trite.

The plot moves slowly. After 170 pages (of 600) nothing much has happened yet. There used to be a time when 160 pages was the average length of a whole SF novel.

But I had the most problems with the protagonists. I could not relate to them. Quite often I could not comprehend their feelings and their reactions at all. The dialogs were strange. They missed congruity.

The result of all this was that I quit after 170 pages. This novel got several awards, so it can't be that bad, right? I am stumped.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

NOTE TO SELF:
Swap my reviews with Metal Fatigue when I have finished that one.
Made a bit of an oopsie using the search function.