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Inference
the long-sought grail of law enforcement, a system to pinpoint suspects with unerring precision, enabled and executed by AIs whose eyes and ears are every auto, every satellite photo, every phone, toilet and light bulb in the U.S., a sea of data from which all human movement can be extrapolated like krill slipping through baleen. But even the most powerful tools have weaknesses, and when the body of a genetically engineered boy turns up in a Seattle alley, his likely murderer seems to have vanished into thin air. Now detectives Tom Mueller and Jackie Khleang have to crack the case the old-fashioned way — before more kids turn up dead.
278 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 24, 2017
3 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 13, 2017
The glory days of cyberpunk are long behind us (no surprise, since we basically live in a cyberpunk world as weird as anything the first wave of cyberpunks imagined) but, despite the rarity of a new book, there's still a fair bit of life in the genre. Exhibit A is Inference: a solid cyberpunk mystery that manages to work a lot of the classic themes of the genre -- omnipresent AI, ubiquitous surveillance, modified humans, etc. -- into a gripping tale of revenge, murder and videogames.
The future of Inference is actually a little less bleak than your typical cyberpunk setting -- the US has splintered, as is so common in the genre, but at least some parts of it (namely the future Seattle that is the book's primary setting) actually seem quite nice, if a little spooky to those of us who remember the pre Internet era. For that reason, it may not even be fair to call this cyberpunk, but it's close enough to it, and far enough from anything else, that it's a reasonable shortcut if nothing else. Sure, there are AIs everywhere, and literally everything you do is recorded, but the governments of this future have managed to not be complete dicks about the whole thing, even if not everyone is comfortable with the situation. Similarly, the AI here are not (necessarily) fully sentient and independent, just really good versions of what we see now, or expect to see five to ten years from now, from AI (i.e. tools for manipulating immense data sets and then making predictions and plans based on that data). Anyway, the setting and tech is cool and understated, playing a supporting role to the nice murder mystery at the heart of the story.
That mystery unfolds at a tidy pace (at times too tidy; I would have happily read another 50-100 pages of this if they existed, though it never really feels rushed) and manages to maintain coherence and an internal logic even as things get weirder and weirder. There are also a few tantalizing loose ends and asides that suggest a sequel of sorts could be forthcoming. (If it were, I'd read it.)
Perhaps most impressive, for a first-time, self published author, is how polished the whole thing is. (Not surprising necessarily, since I know the author has worked as a professional copy editor in the past.) I found only a handful of minor typos in the entire book (on par with mainstream publishing) and, much more importantly, the story makes perfect sense and there isn't a lot of unnecessary fat. All in all a strong debut (of sorts; he has a self published novella as well) from a compelling new voice in science fiction, easily recommendable to anyone who enjoys mysteries, cyberpunk, or, ideally, both.
Disclosure: I am a longtime friend and colleague of this author.
Further Disclosure: I am also kind of a prick, and if I thought this book was shit, I wouldn't hesitate to say so, or at least carefully choose my words so as to be a little nice while saying it was shit. I didn't have to do that, because this is a good novel.
The future of Inference is actually a little less bleak than your typical cyberpunk setting -- the US has splintered, as is so common in the genre, but at least some parts of it (namely the future Seattle that is the book's primary setting) actually seem quite nice, if a little spooky to those of us who remember the pre Internet era. For that reason, it may not even be fair to call this cyberpunk, but it's close enough to it, and far enough from anything else, that it's a reasonable shortcut if nothing else. Sure, there are AIs everywhere, and literally everything you do is recorded, but the governments of this future have managed to not be complete dicks about the whole thing, even if not everyone is comfortable with the situation. Similarly, the AI here are not (necessarily) fully sentient and independent, just really good versions of what we see now, or expect to see five to ten years from now, from AI (i.e. tools for manipulating immense data sets and then making predictions and plans based on that data). Anyway, the setting and tech is cool and understated, playing a supporting role to the nice murder mystery at the heart of the story.
That mystery unfolds at a tidy pace (at times too tidy; I would have happily read another 50-100 pages of this if they existed, though it never really feels rushed) and manages to maintain coherence and an internal logic even as things get weirder and weirder. There are also a few tantalizing loose ends and asides that suggest a sequel of sorts could be forthcoming. (If it were, I'd read it.)
Perhaps most impressive, for a first-time, self published author, is how polished the whole thing is. (Not surprising necessarily, since I know the author has worked as a professional copy editor in the past.) I found only a handful of minor typos in the entire book (on par with mainstream publishing) and, much more importantly, the story makes perfect sense and there isn't a lot of unnecessary fat. All in all a strong debut (of sorts; he has a self published novella as well) from a compelling new voice in science fiction, easily recommendable to anyone who enjoys mysteries, cyberpunk, or, ideally, both.
Disclosure: I am a longtime friend and colleague of this author.
Further Disclosure: I am also kind of a prick, and if I thought this book was shit, I wouldn't hesitate to say so, or at least carefully choose my words so as to be a little nice while saying it was shit. I didn't have to do that, because this is a good novel.
December 28, 2017
Entertaining mystery set in a realistic possible future
This is a quick and entertaining read that keeps the reader engaged from start to finish. The future the story inhabits, as is true if all good sci-fi, feels like an actual possibility, which poses questions for the reader that the novel is smart enough not to answer. The central plot is engaging and moves briskly throughout. Overall, an impressive first novel.
This is a quick and entertaining read that keeps the reader engaged from start to finish. The future the story inhabits, as is true if all good sci-fi, feels like an actual possibility, which poses questions for the reader that the novel is smart enough not to answer. The central plot is engaging and moves briskly throughout. Overall, an impressive first novel.
January 30, 2018
A fun read. PKD's Ubik combined with Ready Player One. Interesting social commentary about living in a surveillance state in future Seattle, and a diametrically opposed Texas where everyone is packing heat.
November 11, 2017
Fun, quick read. Slowed down in places but overall engaging and interesting. I've determined Science Fiction isn't my favorite genre but this one kept my interest much better than usual.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews