The Real-Town Murders

The Real-Town Murders #1

by Adam Roberts

Alma is a private detective in a near-future England, a country desperately trying to tempt people away from the delights of Shine, the immersive successor to the internet. But most people are happy to spend their lives plugged in, and the country is decaying.Alma's partner is ill, and has to be treated without fail every 4 hours, a task that only Alma can do. If she misses the 5 minute window her lover will die. She is one of the few not to access the Shine.So when Alma is called to an automated car factory to be shown an impossible death and finds herself caught up in a political coup, she knows that getting too deep may leave her unable to get home. What follows is a fast-paced Hitchcockian thriller as Alma evades arrest, digs into the conspiracy, and tries to work out how on earth a dead body appeared in the boot of a freshly-made car in a fully-automated factory.

Genres: Science Fiction, Mystery, Crime, Fiction, Thriller, Dystopia, Near Future

241 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 24, 2017

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Adam Roberts (born 1965) is an academic, critic and novelist. He also writes parodies under the pseudonyms of A.R.R.R. Roberts, A3R Roberts and Don Brine. He also blogs at The Valve, a group blog devoted to literature and cultural studies.

He has a degree in English from the University of Aberdeen and a PhD from Cambridge University on Robert Browning and the Classics. He teaches English literature and creative writing at Royal Holloway, University of London. Adam Roberts has been nominated twice for the Arthur C. Clarke Award: in 2001, for his debut novel, Salt, and in 2007, for Gradisil.

Reviews

[Paromjit · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a superb multi-genre, multilayered, crime noir set in a future Britain. It is a world in which people are addicted to and plugged into Shine, a post-internet offering a virtual online existence, in which reality just cannot compete. It is no surprise then that the outside world is falling apart, causing significant concern in the circles of power. Private detective Alma who has a preference for the offbeat, has a partner, Marguerite, who is critically ill as a result of gene hacking. Marguerite is bed ridden, cannot leave home due to her size, and dependent on Alma for medical attention required every 4 hours. This puts Alma under inordinate pressure and stress as she needs to keep an eye on the time constantly to ensure she is back with Marguerite at the necessary times. This is a story that takes the established crime trope of the locked room syndrome, and then shifts in thrilling and unexpected directions.

Alma finds herself called into an automated car factory utilising robots, where there is a dead body in a car boot. The victim is Adam Sten, but given the levels of surveillance and monitoring, rational logic dictates that this event is just not possible. It is not easy cracking the how and why of this curious mystery, and Alma is feeling the powerful pressure of forces that wish her to drop the case. Alma meets Michelangela, and she begins to understand that there is much more to this case than might first appear. Facing danger and situations that test her ability to care for Marguerite, Alma is determined in her search for the truth whilst encountering questions of identity, political intrigue, secrets, conspiracy, the integral role of social media, and the nature of power and government.

Adam Roberts has written an exciting and intelligent novel with complex and detailed world building that I found impressive and fascinating. It is a fast paced story constructed with wit, humour, and great twists. Every character of note is a woman. I hope this is the beginning of a series, as I loved the character development of Alma, and her partner, Marguerite, who provides invaluable help on the case. I would highly recommend this brilliant book. Many thanks to Gollancz and Orion for an ARC.

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been reading Adam Roberts books since the year he published “Salt” (2001), though not religiously. He is an insightful thinker and quite creative in his plotting. For a number of years I passed on his book parodies such as “The Va Dinci Cod” and “The Dragon with the Girl Tattoo” and perhaps a half dozen others in that parody ilk that demonstrated his ability to utilize humor. Along came the book titled “Jack Glass” which to my mind was the pinnacle of his writing.

I tried to encourage everyone I knew to read this excellent novel. I was so impressed by “Jack Glass” that binge reading the books I missed became a goal and necessity. Nothing even came close to the “Jack Glass” achievement.

Now having just finished reading his new offering “The Real-Town Murders”, a rather miss- titled book, as there are only two murders, one of which is committed by an abundance of attacking drones, Mr. Roberts is beginning to redeem himself in my mind.

The book features a female private detective Alma in a future English city named R, (short for Redding), Perhaps eighty percent of the population is “living” in their own virtual realities called “The Shine” which is so addictive that the average person has no desire to leave their ideal new artifical realities. Those few who do venture out into the real world are online. It is almost criminal not to be online. The world is run by AI’s (Artificial Intelligences), robots, and drones.

Then an impossible murder occurs which Alma is hired to solve. The story is quite inventive and humorous in places such as when Alma engages in logic arguments with various AI’s, such as the door to her apartment, and various police.

The slight problem I had with the story was due do an overabundance of dialog and not enough plot movement. This drawback may perhaps be resolved in further installments in this series.

[K.J. Charles]

Fascinating sf/noir detective story. Alma is a PI in a world where almost everyone spends all their time in virtual reality (the Shine). Alma can't because her lover Marguerite has been infected with a genespliced cancer coded to Alma's DNA that will kill her unless Alma treats her every four hours. This sounds laboured but really isn't, it's a horrible idea brilliantly executed, and the tension as Alma repeatedly fights her way back to Marguerite is heart stopping.

This is really a crime novel though packed with thinky thoughts about social media and sf staples like teleportation and nanobiots. I particularly liked how so much of the tech just doesn't work that well, also the crap rebranding of British towns like BasingStoked!. Packed with puns and allusions, which got a tad mannered at points (and include a lot of trivia that felt a bit dated to me, so seemed odd as refs in a book set in the future), and Roberts has a really glaring stylistic tic of breaking dialogue with speech tags in funny places for no reason I could discern. ("That's," said Alma, "unideal.")

Noteworthy (but shouldn't be): all the main characters are women just because they are, and the loving central f/f relationship is positive, hopeful despite the situation, and unremarked. How refreshing.

[RG · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well written crime noir (locked room syndrome/scenario story) with intelligent scifi elements dealing with a future Britain. Funny at times and interesting ideas. Just found it a little too short in the world building. Never really felt I understood the time and place. My 1st Roberts novel but wont be me last.

[Rae · Rating 2 out of 5]

PopSugar Reading Challenge 2021: A genre hybrid

Everything about this cover led me to expect a mashup of sci fi and mystery genres. Two of my favourites genres colliding? Yes please!

Sadly, all the elements of a satisfying murder mystery were absent: suspects, clues, intrigue... what I read was a fairly mediocre sci fi novel.

If you're after a sci fi adrenaline ride, this book was certainly action-packed, but for me it's important that I care about the characters and what's going on before the peril begins. A bit more investigation and mystery at the start would have made this a much more enjoyable and satisfying read.

I found the characterisation to be poor, and the other stuff going on wasn't enough to compensate.

The ending did sum things up nicely, but it was left primed for a sequel that I'm unlikely to bother with.

Not dreadful, but for me it lacked some key ingredients. If you prefer your sci fi to read like an action movie, you may still enjoy the ride!

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

In crime novels one of the most common scenarios of the ‘whodunnit’ is ‘the locked-room mystery’ – that is where a crime (usually a murder) has been committed without any evidence for an entrance or an exit. It’s so common that Otto Penzler has created one of his huge anthologies on it.

Adam Roberts’ future-noir story begins with an updated version of this trope – there’s a body been found in the boot (aka ‘a trunk’ in the US) of a car being assembled by robots – in a place continuously monitored by three cameras in three different places and a an assembly point where no humans can normally access.

It can’t be denied that Adam likes to set a challenge!

Like many of his other books he plays with traditional tropes and gives them his own personal slant. Here he’s clearly channelling Dashiell Hammett and Alfred Hitchcock noir to create a detective story with a near-future angle. Think The Maltese Falcon meets Charles Stross.

The style is tight, though not quite a la Sam Spade. In these more enlightened times of the 21st century Sam is now Alma, but her role as a protagonist is the same trope as ever. The new angle is where the story becomes a plot based on AI and political shenanigans (again, something that Charlie Stross fans will recognise.)

The skill that Adam shows is that he manages to add new and unusual elements to what is a traditionally structured tale. This is a near-future England where we discover most of the population spent time in the Shine – a virtual online world. As a consequence of this the streets of England are often filled with robotic walkers that Shine-users use to exercise their sleeping bodies whilst in near-suspended animation. People are rarely seen out otherwise and direct face-to-face communication is declining. Alma’s need for direct interviews with witnesses and workers causes many of them concern and an inability to feel comfortable whilst doing so.

In another complication Alma’s partner Marguerite is bedridden, someone who has been given the latest in malware, a virus that needs regular medication every four hours and four minutes – it is something that cannot be done too early or late and has to be administered by Alma. Alma feels guilty and obliged to maintain Marguerite’s health. Marguerite is also a valuable asset in Alma’s work as a private detective, a means of helping Alma work through problems to a solution.

When Alma is met by Michelangela, allegedly a Government agent, she begins to realise that there may be more to this case than at first expected. The solution to the dead man, Adam Ken, in the trunk is very sf-nal, and leads to clandestine meetings with a mystery analyst amusingly referred to, in a nod to Watergate, as ‘Derp Throat’.

When things take a Hitchcock-ian turn and Alma is seemingly arrested and transported for further questioning in Berlin. However Alma escapes, worried about what will happen to Marguerite. Whilst we read of Alma’s attempts to keep Marguerite safe, a situation that becomes increasingly more complicated every four hours, a bigger picture emerges, that there is a political coup going on that the victim and now Alma & Marguerite seem to be connected to.

The conclusion of the book deals with how these situations are resolved.


“This is about the whole balance of life: real life or the Shine. This is about the power bloc that has decided we need to encourage the ongoing migration of people into the Shine, because there we can surveil them and keep them bread-and-circused with perfect efficiency.”


I’ll be the first to admit that some of Adam’s other books, and in particular their endings, have left me rather cold, if not baffled. He’s clearly a clever writer with things to say, but at times the grand ideas have left me rather perplexed, and often with an ending that dissatisfies. (I know, I know – not everything should wrap itself up neatly, etc.)

Nevertheless I’m very pleased to say that The Real-Town Murders is, for me, the most enjoyable Roberts book since Jack Glass (2012). Like Jack Glass, The Real-Town Murders still has those big Adam Roberts ideas – as the quote above shows, this time about the nature of identity, the importance and relevance of social media and the means and manner of governance that may be clearly relevant in these post-Brexit UK times.

“People with a grip on power can get pretty ruthless when they feel that grip slipping.”

Where it wins most of all for me is that this intelligence is reined in to meld with a manageable and engaging plot. It may not be a coincidence that both books mentioned involve mystery-solving, whose structure gives the characters and concepts something to stick to without being generic. Whilst not all the twists and turns in the plot are entirely convincing, The Real-Town Murders is clever without becoming a victim of its own intelligence, which is why I think it mainly works.

The Real-Town Murders is tight and not overly ambitious, and all the better for it.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant. Adam Roberts is a genius.

[Ellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adam Roberts' books are definitely for those people who want extra layers in the stories they read. On the surface, The Real-Town Murders is a locked room mystery, albeit in a future setting, but it's also about how governments seek to control and manipulate their citizens. The future technology is written from the point of view of someone who clearly keeps up-to-date with technological advancements of now.

Alma is called in to investigate a murder at a wholly automated car factory, where humans aren't allowed on the shop floor, well not in person. The body was found inside a newly made car, with no evidence to how the killer got in or out.

It's not an unusual thought to wonder how VR could transform our work lives. Imagine not having to commute, just logging in from home and interacting with your colleagues as if you were there. Think how liberating it would be not to be restrained by proximity to work when choosing where to live. This future does not have a housing crisis.

It's taken a bit further than that, a lot of people now live in cupboards because they rarely leave the Shine. They get their exercise in mesh suits whilst their mind is elsewhere. Towns in the real world have re-branded in attempt to lure people back Real-Town was once Reading, Basingstoke is now BasingStoked! Even the White Cliffs of Dover have had a face lift.

Of course, in this kind of world there's a lot to say about surveillance and data privacy. What exactly do you sacrifice in exchange for the life you have in the Shine? And what are the disadvantages if you're one of the few not connected?

Alma is a carer, as well as a private investigator, one who has no chance to pass her duties on. Her partner Marguerite is living with genehacked malware, which requires treatment every four hours and four minutes. Alma's DNA has been coded into the cure so only she can administer it. As you can imagine, this is problematic when you're wanted by the authorities and it doesn't help that Marguerite is too large to leave their home. It really adds an element of urgency to the story.

Women are not sidelined in this science fiction nor are they stereotypes. Alma is tough but she is also capable of crying, of caring deeply for the woman she loves despite hardship. It definitely passes the Bechdel test with most the key characters being women, even the baddies.

Review copy provided by publisher.

[Rob Kitchin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Real-Town Murders mashes together SF and PI crime fiction, along with some social and political commentary on where digital technology is taking us. Set in a near-future England, most people spend all their waking hours in the Shine, an immersive VR internet, their bodies kept in shape by mesh-suits that exercise them while their online. Alma and her partner Marguerite, however, only live in the real-world due to the latter’s medical condition, which requires attention every four hours. The pair work as private investigators, the perfect combination of intuition and logic, although Marguerite never leaves their apartment. Their present case is a locked-room mystery that seemingly only has one answer and that defies the laws of physics. Adams takes that premise and then spins out an action-packed, thoughtful and humorous yarn that revolves around a high-level political coup. The characterisation is nicely done, as is the realisation of Britain in the near-future, where many jobs are automated and the towns are largely devoid of life. And the locked-room puzzle is a conundrum wrapped in a conspiracy. I found the story highly entertaining and hope that it's the first of a new series.

[Andreas · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the near future, Alma is called to a crime scene to solve as private investigator a nearly impossible case. Slowly she has to learn that the stakes are high but failing is not an option as this condemns her partner to death...

Adam Roberts spins some interesting ideas around virtual worlds and augmented reality (in this book called the Shine). The question is not if people would spend more time in the virtual world but how little they would have to stay in the real one. It's exciting to think this through and to look at he actual consequences assuming that technology supports this way of living.

Then we have the different levels of AI. It's quite funny to see Alma outsmarting a lower level AI and of course cyberhacking is possible as well.

The locked-room puzzle is well laid out and left me clueless until the very end. It's a pity that the second half of the book contains so much action, and rather dull one. I am sure that this works in a movie but here these endless chases annoyed me. What started as a fascinating SF novel turned more and more into a crime thriller with action trumping the ideas.

3 out of 5 stars.

[Caroline Mersey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adam Roberts has a reputation for clever, ideas-dense speculative fiction. His latest novel is The Real-Town Murders (review copy from Gollancz). The novel is a near-future murder mystery and thriller that opens with a classic locked room mystery: a body is found in the boot of a car fresh off a manufacturing line that is covered by CCTV from start to finish. A private detective called Alma is retained to investigate. The investigation leads Alma to become involved in a much wider conspiracy.

Roberts's setting is a near-future Reading, but one where those who can, and can afford to, live and work in the Shine: virtual worlds that are limited only by a person's imagination. Rather than being seduced by the technology, Roberts focused on its implications, particularly for current models of governance based on geography and the nation-state. What does it mean when the population have no need to travel for work, and can escape the constraints of physical geography into spaces limited only by their imaginations and processing power? Current pillars of society begin to slowly erode, compete with one another and eat themselves.

Alma is one of the few who doesn't live in the Shine. She is at the other extreme - tied to one physical spot with only a limited ability to roam. Her partner is house-bound and the victim of a virus that is gene-bound to Alma. Every four hours Alma must be at home to treat her, or her partner will die. It's a punishing schedule at the best of times, but one that becomes even more difficult when one is on the run from the law.

As if all of this wasn't quite enough, Roberts adds a layer of Alfred Hitchcock film references on the top, all updated for his near-future setting. And no Hitchcock film would be complete without a cameo appearance from the great man himself.

The Real-Town Murders is a great thriller, but it suffers slightly from almost being almost too clever for its own good at times.

Goodreads rating: 4*

[Ben Thurley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another very clever and pacey sci-fi thriller by Adam Roberts. An impossible murder. A reluctant detective. A cover-up and conspiracy with consequences for the very existence of the nation state. Oh, and a cat-and-mouse chase scene involving hiding out in Shakespeare's nostril – think a Mount Rushmore of English Arts and Letters carved into the cliffs of Dover.

The story is fun and fast-paced, set in a near future England in which the vast majority of people spend as much time as they can afford to in "The Shine", virtual worlds of infinite possibility. A world too in which genetically tailored viruses are able to target individuals precisely for a life of torment. It's wittily written – with wry jokes and cultural references popping up regularly – and effortlessly evokes the world Roberts builds. A small moment of recognising his skill came for me in a throw-away line of description – "Birds zipped overhead in twos and threes like silent drones." – that cleverly inverts the metaphor's expected direction of analogy so that the artificial drone becomes the natural base for comparison with the momentarily defamiliarised bird.

And for all the admitted over-the-topness of the action, the stakes feel satisfyingly real at the personal and political levels.

Highly enjoyable.

[Miquel Codony · Rating 4 out of 5]

(3,5/5)

Muy interesante, entretenido, y con más capas de lo que parece en un primer momento. A por el segundo.

[Ian Mond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adam Roberts last year foreshadowed that his new novel would be less ambitious than his previous work, in particular The Thing Itself a brilliant book that didn't get the full recognition (and sales I'm guessing) that it deserved. But I think saying that The Real-Town Murders is less ambitious is selling it short. It may not be as thematically or philosophically rich as The Thing Itself or Bête or Jack Glass but it's still very smart, vey astute and has something to say about our interaction with technology.

The Real-Town Murders starts as a whodunnit - a magnificent twist on the locked room mystery - only to become a high-tech conspiracy thriller crammed with pulse pounding action and discussions on the impractical physics of teleportation. Actually, the book wins a gold star just for illustrating how displaced air makes Star Trek's most notable technology utterly implausible. The book is also interested in virtual reality, speculating that as the technology becomes more robust and lifelike people will spend more time in a world of their own devising than the real one. There's something eerie about the near empty streets of Roberts' Reading. Roberts explores the economic, social and power dynamics of a world taken over by VR and in particular how other technologies like AI develop when humans can't be bothered to do all the grunge work. For a book that has its main character catapulted from one near death experience to another it's astonishing how solid and frighteningly real Robert's future feels.

Talking about our hero, Alma is a private investigator and like any good PI, straight out of the noir mould, she gets into places she shouldn't be and regularly finds herself facing the barrel of a gun. What distinguishes her from most conspiracy thriller heroes is her dry sense of humour and her selflessness. For plot related reasons that have nothing to do with the main story-line she's required to inject a uniquely tailored drug into her partner every four hours or her partner will die. Generally your average conspiracy plot propels the hero to a variety places, exotic countries, secret underground bases, the shady halls of Government. Alma doesn't have that luxury, if she goes anywhere outside a certain radius from home her partner will die. This is especially a headache when a number of Government agencies are out to get Alma and yet she is compelled to return back home because her partner cannot be moved. It's an endearing aspect to Alma's character - the fact that she will force a plane to crash just to make it back within the allotted time period - but Roberts also plays the drama and tension for all it's worth.

So maybe The Real-Town Murders is not about the ethics of killing sentient animals or a radical take on Kant's Noumenon. But this is still a thoughtful science fiction novel, a thoughtful science fiction novel that moves at a clip, that features more than one big budget action set piece (climbing down Shakespeare's face. HA!) and has larger than life characters who, for the most part, all happen to be women. If this is Adam Roberts writing for the cheap seats than I'd like more please.

[Plamen Nenchev · Rating 5 out of 5]

Near-future England: Deliveries are made by drones, everything is mechanised and automated, and since almost everyone spends their entire time in a virtual reality called ‘the Shine’, cafes and restaurants are empty, and ten people in the street can make a crowd (!).

But then the impossible happens, and the dullness of this desolate postmodern reality is shattered by an incident that seems pulled straight out of a Hitchcock movie: a body is found in the trunk of a newly-assembled car in a fully-automated, AI-monitored factory. A detective, Alma, is hired to investigate the incident, but is almost immediately stonewalled and then threatened by shadowy government agents. As Alma tries to dodge the increasingly impossible obstacles thrown in her path and realises that solving the mystery is the only thing that would keep her and her bed-ridden girlfriend alive, the plot spirals into a desperate breathtaking action-packed run.

And just as Alma’s predicament reaches ‘a state of no return’, Adam Roberts—as is his habit—throws a wrench into the plot and flips everything upside-down. The ‘locked-room mystery’ turns out to be hardly any mystery whatsoever, but only an element in a much greater conspiracy, a conflict between the powers controlling the ‘real’ world and the virtual one. The real question the novel poses is therefore not HOW the body ended up in the trunk, but WHY.

The Real-Town Murders is perhaps the most serious and straightforward Roberts novel that I have read to date. Gone is the usual spoof, gone is the gaggle and his trademark black humour, to be replaced by a sober and rather ‘noir’ delve into the implications of what would happen if we let virtual reality run rampant in our world. The desolate streets, the walking zombies in mesh suits, especially designed to keep their owners from getting bedsores while they are out surfing the Shine, the desperate attempts of towns to rebrand themselves, e.g. to R!-town or Wow-it's-Slough just to keep their residents awake give the novel an almost sinister tinge, which is reinforced by the constant allusions to the movies of Alfred Hitchcock. A highly believable and extremely probable peek at virtual reality run wild and a new high point for Roberts.

[Ciaran Monaghan · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you want a sci-fi action thriller type book, then this could be for you. It is easy to read and, from the second or third chapter, it is almost non-stop chases and life-threatening escapes. However, beyond that, I was disappointed. The major problem for the main character, Alma, where she has to go back to her apartment every four hours to treat her partner, even when chased by the police, feels very contrived. I also felt like the futuristic elements were quite similar to other books I've previously read - or tried to read (The Circle). This is not necessarily a bad thing - the ideas for the future problems of the internet, social media, surveillance, virtual reality etc. are quite widespread - but I do feel like they have been explored better elsewhere. The ending sets up the prospect of more adventures with Alma, but I am not inclined to rush out and read the next one. Overall, this was pretty average.

[Hathor · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this one and the reviews were good but I struggled to finish. Firstly because there were several glaringly obvious plot holes which I won't go into as I don't want to spoil it for others, and secondly the characterisations were simply not good enough.

It feels as if the author had a good idea but ran out of inspiration. I gave it two stars rather than one because it did have some interesting ideas but it's not an author I would read again.

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

A science fiction novel that is also a cracking whodunnit. Set in a near future Britain (or UK-OK! as the country seems to have been renamed) this is a place of empty, echoing streets, where the sight of a vehicle on the road is a rare occasion. A population of 70 million plus spends almost all of its time immersed in a virtual reality successor to the internet, where all dreams can be made to become true. A few still have jobs which require them to drop back into reality to perform service functions usually connected to the business of government. As far as the manufacturing of things is concerned, that is done entirely by factories that are run by AI robots and function as 3-D printers.

The central character is Alma - a private detective whose obligations as a carer towards her grievously ill lover, Marguerite, stop her from entering The Shine. Marguerite has been maliciously infected with a genetically-engineered cancer that requires treatment during a window that opens up every four hours for a total of four minutes. Without the treatment being administered on time Marguerite would die.

A case comes Alma's way. A body has been discovered in the trunk of a car which was in the process of being assembled on the production line of a fully-automated factory. Film footage from every angle shows the vehicle being spun into existence from nothing and there is not possibility that the body could have been placed there at any point during the assembly. "Someone is showing off" comments Marguerite, but who, and why?

Alma finds herself having to deal with the mysterious representatives of different branches of government in this strange and demoralised world. Her predicament has an intense edge because she would happily escape the responsibility of the assignment when it becomes clear that it threatens her imperative need to return to Marguerite's bedside eveshe is unaware r four hours to administer medical treatment.

But she is not allowed to drop the case. A police officer, Colonel Mastema, knows that Alma has information which hints at the solution to the mystery, but which she has not been able to access in her the 'feed' which taps directly into the brains of citizens of this world.

The Britain of this world has been made a strange place by the absence of its people from streets and public places as they remain absorbed in The Shine. But it also feels like its all just 5 minutes in the future, not so unrecognisable given what we see today with so many people withdrawing from everyday interactions in preference for the world that is being made available to them on the mobile devices eternally within reach.

[Kurt · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the latter third of the 21st century (approx), a private detective is hired to investigate the finding of a dead body in the trunk of a car. This car had just been assembly-lined from scratch by robots run by the factory Artificial Intelligence; no humans around; no breaks in the multi-angle surveillance; just a dead body seemingly magically appearing in the trunk of the car in the factory parking lot. Thus begins a locked room mystery that mushrooms into a greater and greater conspiracy, entwining said private detective in the coup-ing of the power-elite...

Nominally private detective sci-fi, but if you've ever read an Adam Roberts novel, you know that its never just the nominal. Where another author would just straight-up plotted out a conspiracy thriller, Roberts weaves in dizzying ruminations on the nature of power in a time of AI's, and specifically, via the "Shine", a virtual world of unlimited potential (and panopticon surveillance) in which the vast majority of the population spends most if not all of their time. People in the real world are closed systems (locked rooms), but in the Shine, they are laid open, fully bare, much more easily "bread-and-circused". All of this set amidst the possible(?) advent of teleportation and the already-here development of nano-machines, both of which are expertly woven into the fabric of the story and set up a potential sequel.

"The Real-Town Murders" is definitely vintage Roberts, but it is also a minor work compared to most of his other books. That being said, this is perhaps the most accessible and fun read of his oeurve, and you can tell he had fun writing it: much coy humor, puns, and sly wordplay abounds, like this novel was an outlet for his cheekier side. Readers who like their intrigue with a side of speculation will enjoy what's going on here, and, if you've never read a Roberts novel, the action-packed plotting of this one gives you an easy place to start.

[Maria Longley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent mash up of near future sci-fi and noir detective story. The setting is a Britain where almost everyone who can spends their time in the virtual reality world Shine and the real world is feeling extremely tidied by the robots but lacklustre. A dead body shows up in the boot of a car that has just been assembled in the factory (under three cameras recording different angles) with no humans allowed inside. At the last step, a human does a quality check (a marketing gimmick) and discovers the body thus starting off the locked room puzzle.

Alma is a PI called by the factory to try and unravel the mystery. She works in the real world as she's unble to go into Shine due to her caring duties. Her lover, Marguerita, has been infected with a genespliced cancer that will kill her unless she is treated in a four minute window every four hours. And on top of that it's coded to Alma's DNA so she has to treat this mutating horror. It's a horrifying illness, and there's so much tension as Alma has to try and get back home to treat Marguerita. The on/offline states of being are fascinating, as is the thinking through of the ramifications of governing a country where most the population has vanished into the virtual worlds.

It seems like all the main characters are women just because, and honestly that's pretty refreshing. There are so many little details and ideas packed away that the world seems incredibly solid and real - and we don't in fact get to go to Shine at all. Just a long argument with an intelligent door.

[David Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

'm grateful to the publisher for an advance copy of this book via NetGalley - it's always good to be approved for an advance copy, but particularly here as I always look forward to a new book from Adam Roberts.

And The Real Town Murders - which is both a science fiction and a crime story - didn't disappoint. It has that recognisably Robertsian tone - that is, serious in theme if slightly silly on the surface, packed with allusions so sly that you have to go back and check if you really read what you thought you did and glorying in puns and cheeky plays on words. So we have gems like "You're not the Mycroft. You're the Yourcroft"; phrases like "Man-hating transfer" or "gutter perches" shamelessly put into a character's mouth "for some reason" puns without the punning, pure puns with no object or reference.

All that, and the book is also recklessly, relentlessly inventive and beautifully written. Really, really well written: in places the language almost sparkles and glitters (especially when it's describing sparkling and glittering things). For example: "Sunlight sparkled grey off the dust coating every one of the building's hundreds of windows" or "A solitary bot moved very slowly over the weedy concrete". There is a whole series of descriptions of sky and water that caught my fancy, both original ("The sky was a lake of unlit petrol", "Sky the colour of an old man's hair", "Textured like hammered pewter. Grey like the steel from which Excalibur was forged", "...the Thames, all of its surface teeming eels of pure light and pure brightness in the afternoon sun") and nods elsewhere ("light fizzing off ten thousand wave peaks like a screen tuned to a dead channel").

The half quote from Neuromancer is particularly apposite because this book's background assumes a world where virtual reality is overtaking the real Real. The Shine is the place where all the fun is to be had, which is why Reading (or R!-Town as it's been renamed, in a lame marketing effort) is so empty (twelve people or so constitutes a crowd). Those who can, choose to spend their time indoors, dormant, plugged into the Shine: those who have no choice - prisoners, patients in hospital - are made to: it's easier to handle them that way.

Horrible, perhaps, but not a dystopia, not exactly. There hasn't been an apocalyptic event, the world is still complete, it's just that several decades of consequences and technological evolution have taken us in a troubling direction. The outcome is that familiar streets - I've walked along some of the road Roberts describes - have become strange and eerie, beautiful at times in their emptiness, observed only by the few who can't or won't go where the fun is.

The main character is one of these misfits. Alma is a private detective who at the start of the book has been retained to investigate a classic locked-room mystery - a murdered corpse in the boot of a new car, assembled before our eyes (or rather, before omnipresent CCTV) in a factory. A factory, which, incidentally, makes high end, "artisanally produced" cars - that is, they are lovingly assembled in the traditional manner by robots rather than merely being printed. That gives them a certain cachet in this world of the virtual Shine, of AIs, of empty streets and canteens - and a key role in the ideological struggle between the real and the virtual realms.

Alma has no religious objection or medical reason for resisting the Shine, a fact she finds hard to explain to her prospective clients. Rather, she is bound to stay in the Real in order to tend to her beloved, her pearl Marguerite. Marguerite has been infected by a modded virus, which cases a crisis every four hours and four minutes. The malady is keyed to Alma's DNA so that only she can diagnose and treat it.

Ridiculous as this premise may sound put so baldly, Roberts makes it work. In his it becomes a touching vulnerability for Alma, the successive needs to get out of whatever scrape she's in and return home really piling on the tension. It also adds an intriguing question which is never answered - how did this happen to Marguerite, and why? I very quickly lost any doubt about this setup, so well is Alma's need conveyed. And Marguerite is a wonderful character, the Mycroft to Alma's Holmes, as hinted in the quote above. She's a full part of this investigation and spots not only the immediate solution to the crime, but the wider dangers, long before Alma catches on.

And there are dangers. In essence this book is one long chase. Alma is engaged for a case, warned off, threatened, contacted by a mysterious inside source, arrested, escapes, is pursued, shot at, and so on - for all the world like the hero of a Hitchcock film (and, in one mysterious scene, there is even an appearance by a mysterious fat man...) Even without the need to care for Marguerite, her chances of survival look small. But she's resourceful and won't give up so we have the setup for a classic action thriller. Yet if it's Adam Roberts does Alfred Hitchcock it could as easily be Adam Roberts does Julius Caesar (I think - given the politics, and some of the speeches) or several other genres (did the scenes with the argumentative lift AI echo Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? Of course they did.)

In other words, it's clever, well thought out, many layered, allusive and tricksy, something else I've come to expect from Roberts' books. With some authors that might seem a little show-offy, a bit look-at-me, but I never get that feeling from Roberts' books. If you get these references they add to the enjoyment, but understanding the book doesn't depend on getting them, and there's lots of fun to be had here anyway.

The book ends with many open questions for both Alma and the reader, and I'm really hoping that Roberts will return to R!-town again, with some answers (and more questions).

[Andrew Logan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve read some Adam Roberts before and found his work to be clever and interesting. Work that projects possible futures and makes intelligent observations about possible consequences. I found that again here. So far things are as expected, then.

What I did not expect to get was an Agatha Christie style murder mystery. Locked rooms, extra information needed, social norms thrown into view and a protagonist in many ways more interesting than sympathetic.

This is pretty much as promised. A murder mystery set in a near future science fiction world. Remember that this is the real world and what is going on will be more engaging and make more sense.

Surely a must-read for sci-fi loving Agatha Christie fans. But for anyone who does not recognise themselves in that description, probably this is not one for you. By my current standards I raced through it so I would have no hesitation in saying this is a good read.

[Jaime · Rating 4 out of 5]

Al encontrar un cadáver en la cajuela de un auto recién salido de una linea de fabricación, una detective llamada Alma es llamada para atender el caso. El cual la lleva hasta las altas esferas del gobierno en un Londres del futuro próximo. El hijo del internet es tan atrayente que todo el mundo pasa la mayor parte del tiempo conectados, incluso cuando trabajan o hacen ejercicio, enfundados en exoesqueletos inteligentes que los ejercitan mientras ellos divagan en las infinidades de la esfera de datos. Un thriller bastante interesante producido por este subestimado autor británico.

[fromcouchtomoon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Jack Glass good, not Bête good.

[Andrew Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alfred Hitchcock once described opening a film by following a car being made in an automated factory; at the end of the process, the boot opens to reveal a dead body. Hitch never made the film because the idea was too impossible even for him, so Adam Roberts has taken up the challenge and transferred the idea to the realm of science fiction in ‘The Real-Town Murders’.
There are all kinds of satisfying Hitchcockian nods throughout the novel: a virtual Hitch crops up at one point and, in a nod to the Master’s brief appearances in his own work, the murder victim is called Adam. Then there is the cyclical, even repetitive nature of the obsessions explored in Hitchcock’s work, like James Stewart’s character in ‘Vertigo’ falling for the same murder victim twice. This pattern is reflected in ‘The Real-Town Murders’ in the way the protagonist, a private detective called Alma, must return every four hours to administer medical treatment to her beloved partner, Marguerite.
Hitchcock’s work also dealt with conflicting realities: ‘Vertigo’ again, but also ‘North by Northwest’, in which a man is mistaken for a spy who does not exist. As its title suggests, ‘The Real-Town Murders’ takes place in a world where perception has come even further adrift; so much so that reality has to market itself with lamentably pitiful results against the lure of a beguiling post-Internet realm called the Shine.
Such is the power of the Shine that people spend all their time in it, with requirements like exercise being undertaken by exo-skeletons that trundle immersed users around the otherwise deserted streets of future Reading. This funny, disturbing image perfectly expresses the author’s absurdist and very English take on the genre, while reflecting other Hitchcock movies, like ‘Frenzy’ and ‘Psycho’, in which physical needs like food and desire are not only inconvenient, but downright loathsome.
Indeed, Adam Roberts takes this theme even further. Alma’s lover Marguerite is a brilliant woman, but she has been deliberately infected with a smart virus tailored to Alma’s DNA, meaning that Alma alone can provide care. Marguerite’s condition prevents her moving, and as a result she has turned into one of those enormous individuals who can no longer stand, let alone fit through a door. Touchingly, Alma’s love is such that she doesn’t care, patiently and loyally tending where she can, even to the detriment of her own health.
The enemy players in this bracingly complicated game are aware of Alma’s predicament, which means they know where to find her every four hours. They place robot guards in front of Alma’s front door so she can’t get in without being caught, and when the ever-resourceful detective finds ways around that obstacle, the villains threaten the defenceless Marguerite directly.
These antagonists, who like much of the cast are female, form a splendid gallery of officious, well-tailored psychopaths of whom Hitchcock would approve. However, my one concern with the novel is that the ‘problem’ they are trying to solve with both the murder and the obstruction of Alma is not as emotionally affecting as what was done to Marguerite. Deliberately infecting another person with a mutating virus is a level of bastardy so cunning and absolute I wanted the perpetrator to suffer the kind of horrible fate Roberts excelled at creating in his other detective science fiction novel, the award-winning ‘Jack Glass’.
That it doesn’t happen may be Hitchcock’s influence again; ‘Vertigo’ ends with the hero destroyed as much by his own failings and obsessions as by the actions of the notional villain, who gets away with the crime. Similarly, the virus was unleashed on Marguerite is because of something Alma did; we don’t find out what.
Alternatively, the stage may be set for author’s first actual sequel. I hope so, because ‘The Real-Town Murders’ is a suitably outrageous and compelling story for its world to be explored further.

[Samuel Tyler · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you had the choice would you live your life online? In the future this may be possible, with the development of full realised virtual reality you may feel that the online world is more real than your own. Even today we spend hours each day looking at phones or checking statuses. The only thing is that with most people online, some of us will have to stay in the real world to deal with unexpected events – such as a real town murder.

Alma is a Private Investigator who works exclusively in the real world, this means that she refuses to enter The Shine – an online ecosystem that the vast majority of the population have given themselves to. She is tasked with solving what appears to be the impossible murder of a man whose corpse has been found in a newly manufactured car. Nothing that strange about that? Except the fact that the car was made in a fully automated factory that cannot allow humans to enter. So how did he get in the trunk?

‘‘The Real-Town Murders’’ by Adam Roberts is the type of ideas science fiction that comes up with some thoughtful scenarios, but does not execute them brilliantly. There is a real issue in science fiction of trying to create both an interesting futuristic premise, but also write an entertaining story. With this in mind, the PI is a very popular science fiction mash up – these crime stories are often quite linear and allow you to drape your dystopian ideals around it without destroying the central story thread. However, whilst crime fiction may be easy to write, good crime fiction is not so easy.

Roberts introduces some great concepts from the very beginning. The idea of a real world and a virtual world is not new; ‘‘The Matrix’’ and ‘‘Surrogates’’ spring to mind, but setting the entire story in the real world is. Alma finds herself walking around empty streets only interacting with robots and AI. The only humans to be seen are those locked into The Shrine who have sent their bodies out in mech suits to prevent their muscles atrophying. There is also the clever use of Alma’s partner as a timing device as she is suffering from incurable disease that only Alma can treat every four hours. This means that whatever actions Alma takes, she knows she has to be home soon.

It is not the science fiction elements of the book that let proceedings down, but the crime and action. For some reason an intelligent book devolves into a series of action set pieces that are a bit dumb and a bit dull. One scene even has our hero hiding in the nose of a famous bard. In the right book this scene would have worked, but in ‘‘Real-World’’ it just feels a little cringy as the tone was off. These tonal issues also reflect in Alma’s attitude at times. She is a fast quipping PI, even when she is suffering from a possibly fatal case of nanobot stomach. Alma seems to pay no heed to her impending demise and waffles on as normal.

Roberts has undertaken what a surprising number of science fiction writers have attempted before and that is to splice their normal genre with crime. Like many of these other authors, it has been the crime element that has let the side down, it is not as easy as some make it seem. Good sci fi and crime can be intelligent, but Roberts decides that more action is needed to spice up the crime case. All this does is produce meaningless scenes that detract from what is a very interesting central conceit. Original review on thebookbag.co.uk

[Brian Clegg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of all the contemporary science fiction writers, Adam Roberts can most be relied on to deliver a book that combines an engaging story with extensions of current science and technology that really makes you think - and The Real-Town Murders does this perfectly.

Set in the south east of England, a few decades in the future, this book delivers a trio of delights. The main character, Alma, is faced with constant time pressure as she faces physical and mental challenges (including a lovely homage to North-by-Northwest), there is an apparently impossible locked room mystery and there is fascinating speculation about the impact three technologies - AI, nanotechnology and virtual reality - may have on human life and politics.

Roberts' inventiveness comes through time after time - for example, Alma's partner is locked into a genetically engineered nightmare where she suffers a different medical emergency every four hours which only Alma can fix. It's just a shame, in a way, that Marguerite, the partner, hardly gets a chance to contribute as we are told she has Mycroft Holmes-like abilities. And then there's that locked room - or, rather, the locked boot of a car - where a corpse turns up in the boot at the end of a vehicle production line, despite the car being constantly viewable on video from several directions as it was built and it being clear that no one put the corpse in place.

There's so much going on here, despite this being a short and very readable novel. Admittedly, there are a couple of points where there's an awful lot of talking in rather vague terms (other characters complain about this), but this is relatively painless and we're soon back with the action.

My only real complaint is one that also applies to a scene in a much less sophisticated movie trilogy also dealing with AI and virtual reality - The Matrix. In The Real-Town Murders, towards the end, Alma realises that there is only one possible solution left to explain how the corpse ended up in the boot of the car - but there is another, arguably more likely, solution that simply gets overlooked. I won't say what it is, but Alma would surely have thought of it if she were familiar with the movie Inception.

What's really impressive here is that Roberts manages to make this book both a page-turning adventure and an intelligent and thought-provoking exploration of the benefits and dangers of AI and virtual reality. It's also unusual in that every major character is female (a refreshing contrast to Foundation), though there are plenty of men around - again, part of Roberts' cleverness is that he can do this without trying to justify it in some way in the storyline.

While not as intellectually meaty as The Thing Itself, this is one of Roberts' best books and a good introduction to his writing. If you aren't already a fan, but you like intelligent speculative fiction, read this and you soon be looking for more titles by Adam Roberts.

[Peter Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Impossible Murder in a too possible future.

The Real-Town Murders by Adam Roberts

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This book is like the author's prior book (Jack Glass) in featuring an impossible murder in the ultimate locked room. In this case, it is a body that mysteriously appears in a locked car trunk (or boot, since this is set in England) manufactured by a robot automobile assembly plant under minute recorded observation by an artificial intelligence (AI). How did the body mysteriously get put there when no one was seen or videoed putting it there?

Private investigator Alma is called in to investigate. Alma is sharp but works under a disability. Her lover, Rita, has been infected with a genetic phage that will kill Rita unless Alma - and only Alma - diagnoses and implements a cure every four hours. This limitation keeps the clock ticking at all times.

The mystery goes deeper than the murder. 90% of humanity has become addicted to a virtual reality existence called the "Shine." They exist in the real world as comatose bodies that are taken out for walks by their "mesh" suits to keep the bodies working. The Shine is captivating like the best video games. Anything can happen there. The real world cannot compete and does not have to compete since robots and AIs can make the few things that humans need in the real world.

Because of Rita's dependence on her, Alma lives exclusively in the real world, which is virtually depopulated, apart from the occasional human body being taken out for exercise while the human mind continues to enjoy the Shine. Real-world government has attempted to compete by making the real world more exciting, such as by sculpting the White Cliffs of Dover into giant faces of British historical figures and renaming towns like Reading into "catchier" names like R! Town.

But it is a losing proposition, and real-world governments are feeling the power shift to their Shine equivalents.

If only real-world governments had a game-changer that could lure the population out of the Shine?

Like, teleportation.

I like this book. The writing and observations are insightful. Ultimately, though, the write-up fell short of tying up some loose ends (like Jack Glass), making me think that there might be a sequel in the works (like Jack Glass.)

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I read this book because I accidentally bought the second one not knowing that it was the 2nd in a series. I will read the 2nd, since I own it, but I'm now less enthused about it.

The world is fine, if a bit creepy. It is interesting to take a look at a person who isn't inside the shared, global virtual reality concept that dominates SF. And I liked Alma a lot - she seems confused a lot in this book, but very big things are happening to her, so that's understandable. She has a purpose and is determined and usually smart about it. I liked how most of the characters were strong women, actually. The mystery worked for me, mostly. And I very much appreciated the same sex relationship treated like - gasp! - just a normal, healthy relationship.

That said, there were some things that really bugged me. The language was a bit pretentious, particularly between Alma and Marguerite. They're smart women, but there were a lot of two dollar words that didn't flow right - it seemed like Roberts had leaned heavily on his thesaurus. This felt all the more odd when Alma didn't recognize references an educated person would know once she was cut off from the internet. (I'm also unsure how everyone seemed to have a current pop culture reference or two, even though those moments in pop culture seemed to be in the distant past or not widespread. It was equivalent to someone now randomly referencing vaudeville actors.) I was also bugged by how often Marguerite's size was mentioned. There was a minor reason for it, but does the reader really need to be reminded every time Alma kisses her that it's on an "enormous" cheek? Some bedridden people do grow large, but many don't. The reason for her size was never directly stated, although she had clearly gained weight since her incapacitation. It felt a little gross to mention it so often, although the characters never particularly shamed Marguerite. It was just a oft-repeated fact.

Anyway, it was engaging enough to read the second book, which I already possess. This one does set up the 2nd, so it's good to have read it. We will see about a 3rd though.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in our new future, The Real-Town Murders gives us a look at what the coming years might bring. Of course we have already seen what the far future of the internet looks like in Ready Player One but the feel of this book brings it closer. An all immersive web called the Shine where people spends their lives plugged in wandering about oblivious to the real world.

The book starts with a murder, a body has been found in a car boot of a car that has just came of an assembly line. Surely a worker is responsible, well no, the assembly line is fully automated and fully covered by CCTV. There is no sign of how this body ended up in the boot, it truly is a mystery.

This is where Alma comes in, she is a private detective and she is charged with finding out exactly how the body ended up in such a strange place and to make it even stranger she can only do things in four hour intervals.

Her partner Marguerite is ill and she needs treatment every four hours to keep her alive, the only person who can administer the treatment is Alma.

The story delves deep in to conspiracy territory as Alma digs in to the murder she discovers people who are out to trip her up. People whose plans will take her away from her beloved Marguerite and her ability to help her.

It is a unique story, the Shine does heavily remind me of the OASIS in Ready Player One but the whole story is captivating and crazy paced as of course it revolves around instalments of 4 hours as Alma tries to evade the people out to trip up her case and keep her partner alive.

A great refreshing read in the sci-fi genre.

Thanks to Gollancz for providing me with a copy in exchange for a review.