Oversight

by Thomas Claburn

Disgraced detective Sam Crane would do anything to help his comatose daughter recover. But when he's told to turn a blind eye to the murder of a reclusive scientist, he refuses, seeing his resolve as atonement for failing his family and his colleagues.

Sam's determination to persevere endangers his friends, even as it reveals a secret sought by a deluded advertising magnate, a set of look-alike terrorists, and government agents: a way to alter what people see. If only he could have understood without having his eyes replaced.

Confronting an untrustworthy, hyper-commercial world amid a pandemic of blindness, Sam realizes he must embrace the artifice he resents to maintain his integrity. He plays his adversaries against each other in a gamble that puts his investigation at risk but offers a way to mend his fractured life–if he can survive.

Genres: Science Fiction, Mystery

264 pages, Paperback

First published March 13, 2015

Reviews

[Charles Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sam Crane is a data speculator. His job is to dig into cyberspace for information about people when other methods of investigation fail. When Sam is asked to take on the case of Dr. Xian Mako, a murdered researcher, who has been killed with the poison of the fugu fish, he runs smack up against the Big Brother state apparatus. In an age when, because of technology, your every move is tracked, Sam’s surprised to discover that the victim has hardly any cyberspace footprint. The only clue he has to work with at the start is a pair of special antique eyeglasses, which end up missing from another corpse, a close friend of his.
Oversight by Thomas Claburn is mystery, science fiction, and dystopian novel all rolled into one. In places the narrative, even when it’s describing action scenes, is a bit too jumpy, but the author can be forgiven since he’s written a quite entertaining book. The characters are mostly sympathetic – except for some of the villains who have only a bare minimum of redeeming graces, as befits true villains.
A tale of a future time – but, how far into the future?

[Stan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just to be upfront, I received a copy of this book from a first-reads giveaway here on Goodreads. That being said, Oversight is an enjoyable read. The protagonist of the book is Sam Crane, a Noir style detective with some serious anger management issues. The story is set in a near future Bay Area where our hero is sub-contracted to investigate a murder. The author paints a picture of a dark future that saturated with commercial capitalism run horribly amok and ubiquitous online connectivity, for good or ill. The book gives an interesting, if rather disconcerting, vision of the future and I would recommend it to fans of all things dark and cyberpunk.

[Gina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book as a first read. It was a slow read. In parts it's overly descriptive. In other parts is too terse. The story drags on and the dialogue is uninspired. The characters aren't developed enough for you to carry about any of them. The book had potential but would need editing.

[Bill Daniels · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the detective/noir story line to be ok, a good read, but with all the usual plot devices of the genre. What I really liked was the world it is set in. Claburn does a remarkable job of projecting current social/economic trends in to a future of commercial and political deciet, hyper-commercialized, and intensely intrusive into personal space. It is well worth reading just to appreciate the world he has created.

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

In "Oversight", Sam Crane is an information speculator -- sort of a mercenary detective, both assisting, and (somewhat) assisted by, the police. He's brought into an investigation into the death of Dr. Xian Mako, mainly because the cop in charge doesn't think he can solve it, and HE wants the investigation to quietly go away.

Sam, however, messes things up by being too good at his job. He starts by tracking down the pair of "antique galvanic spectacles" that the doctor was holding when killed. In this oddly dystopian future (~2050), ads are everywhere and mandatory, information about everyone (to fuel the ads) is abundant and freely available -- except about the victim.

Slowly (very), Sam finds out that Marketing's standard "battle for eyes" is about to take a serious turn for the worse. Blindness descends like a plague on 70% of the population in several areas, and can only be cured by "Oversight" -- a new form of eye transplant. Problem is, under Oversight the newly implanted eyes can be invisibly controlled by a powerful mega-corp. The underlying technology is, of course, also being sought by various terrorist and government agencies, for purposes even more nefarious than forced, controlled, ever-present marketing.

The book felt fairly long to me, but it turned out to be "only" about 260 pages. And very dense pages they were. Anyway, I generally liked the book, even though it took me a while to finish. 3 stars.

[Bookman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the unique world of this book. It is set in an alternate future where everything is run by money. Everyone has a personal AI licensed to them, the AI takes care of everything. Want something to eat? Consult the AI. Need to search the web? Consult the AI. The trade off is that in order to pay for this AI you must listen to a set number of advertisements every day. If you walk by a diner the AI will tell you the sale items and try to get you to go there because it knows you haven't eaten in a while.

Nothing is free, you have to pay for everything from search results on the web to time sitting on a public bench. You are constantly bombarded with advertisements, want silence? You can pay for some time away from the ads.

The book was pretty short, but I enjoyed it. I don't usually read mysteries, but I liked this one because of the world.

I was browsing the new releases in the Science Fiction section and I saw this book. I decided to give it a try because it wasn't part of a series. Anyone that's every tried to pick up a book from the new releases with no prior knowledge of what you're looking for will know that it s every difficult to find a Science Fiction/Fantasy novel that is not already in the middle of a giant series.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goodreads Giveaway

This a decent book, the mystery is interesting and intriguing. It was a bit difficult to grasp what was going on at times because of the futuristic setting that it required a lot of focus and attention to the surroundings. However, the book is a very easy read and so fluid. The mystery is was kept me going and the outcome of the big conspiracy is what was most intriguing.
Sam is faced with local authorities to big companies that try to deceive Sam from the truth.
RECOMMENDED.

[Kristy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book as part of a first read giveaway. This book is not in my normal genre, but it caught my interest as a mystery. There is also a dash of science fiction as well. It was an interesting glimpse into what our future may hold. Most of the characters are well developed. I found the novel to be a bit disjointed at times, especially toward the end. It was a great plot and well worth the read.

[Ben Chenoweth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Billed for fans of Neal Stephenson, this novel actually comes pretty close. The futuristic world is believable (especially the prevalent advertising) and the plot has interest as do the characters. Where it falls short (and thereby misses out on a fifth star) is the lack of wry humour. Stephenson's writing has the most amazing comic touches (Cryptonomicon is a standout in this regard) and Claburn only comes close on perhaps a couple of occasions. Nonetheless, this was an enjoyable read.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in the future, well 2050, just enough to be uber-techo but not out of sight of present times. San Francisco. The comments are wry and well-aimed at us in the present, and the techy stuff believable enough. Quite a story. I took a while to 'care' about the murder which is at the centre of the plot...

[Amanda Tosch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good

Well written, I read it in pretty much one sitting. A lot of clever and interesting extrapolation set in a future day San Francisco. Would love to see more from this author , would be interested to see what would happen if he would delve more deeply into his characters ie write a series

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Großartig konsistente Beschreibung einer Welt, die vollkommen durchkommerzialisiert ist. Und eine atemlose Geschichte, im guten Sinne.

[Victor Nolasco · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Look into Future

A nice book about the future with added suspense. A landscape dominated by advertising and no privacy.
Makes you wonder if we are that far off.