Proxy by Daniel Moore is a psychologically-based cyberpunk thriller that takes place in the night-time heart of New York's criminal and corporate underground. Alyx Markov, a thief turned surveillance expert, is hiding out in the darkest corner of Chinatown. After leaving her employer, following a murder-for-profit contract, she flees with secrets that could ruin the company, making her a target for mercenaries and executives alike. After months of hiding, her hand is forced, pushing her back into the world of theft and corruption. Every move she makes is done under the watchful eye of private military contractors.
I can't say I liked this book, and I can't say I hated it. I don't want to say it was okay either, so the blasted required star rating of Amazon is going to be rough here. I have to say I didn't like it, but there was a possibility I could have liked it. I see talent glinting behind the heavy mask of typos and grammatical errors. As some one who supports indie authors and their work, I can and do try to overlook a few mistakes here and there, but, it can not be done when it interrupts the flow of the story - which it did. I finished reading the whole book because I was requested to review it and made a commitment to do so. I highly encourage the author to get someone to help them with proofreading. That being said, I think the idea behind the story is compelling - politics, power, corruption, crime - and I could really get into it if I was given an inside to the main character. I felt like I was kept distant from Alyx. Her past kept being hinted at, and some big incident between her and another character - that she struggles with an urge to kill because of what happened. However, I read the whole book, and I am not sure what that even was. It could use a little more development - the story and the characters. I didn't really get to know them well. Even though I was interested in what was going on, in a lot of the scenes it felt disconnected, like I was running in the dark in an unfamiliar place. Again, definitely could be a three or four star book, in my humble opinion, with a little more work. I was given a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review.
The story had potential but it has an underdeveloped plot. I felt like I was missing a big part of the book. Maybe if Mr. Moore could write a novella that predates this book would help me understand more about what was going on. Something happened to our protagonist in her past and it damaged her psyche. She apparently hadn't left her apartment in several months.She was running out of money and was offered a job by someone she should have known better to deal with at all. A simple data retrieval job turns into way more than she expected. Now she is trying to get the data, dodge cops and the Russian mob. While trying not to slip over the edge of oblivion You see what I mean, this could be a really good book. I had trouble understanding some of the things going on in the book because there wasn't enough information to explain what was going on or why it was happening. Do I regret reading this book? Absolutely not. If Mr. Moore wrote another book in this world I would buy it. I was given this book for a honest review