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Meat and Salt and Sparks
A futuristic murder mystery about detective partners—a human and an enhanced chimpanzee—who are investigating why a woman murdered an apparently random stranger on the subway.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
28 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 6, 2018
7 people are currently reading
226 people want to read
About the author
Rich Larson
199 books251 followersRich Larson was born in Galmi, Niger, has studied in Rhode Island and worked in the south of Spain, and now lives in Ottawa, Canada. Since he began writing in 2011, he’s sold over a hundred stories, the majority of them speculative fiction published in magazines like Asimov’s, Analog, Clarkesworld, F&SF, Lightspeed, and Tor.com.
His work appears in numerous Year’s Best anthologies and has been translated into Chinese, Vietnamese, Polish, French and Italian. Annex, his debut novel and first book of The Violet Wars trilogy, comes out in July 2018 with Orbit Books. Tomorrow Factory, his debut collection, follows in October 2018 with Talos Press.
Besides writing, he enjoys travelling, learning languages, playing soccer, watching basketball, shooting pool, and dancing kizomba.
His work appears in numerous Year’s Best anthologies and has been translated into Chinese, Vietnamese, Polish, French and Italian. Annex, his debut novel and first book of The Violet Wars trilogy, comes out in July 2018 with Orbit Books. Tomorrow Factory, his debut collection, follows in October 2018 with Talos Press.
Besides writing, he enjoys travelling, learning languages, playing soccer, watching basketball, shooting pool, and dancing kizomba.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews
May 14, 2020
From the time she was old enough to understand it, the scientists had always told her she was the only one. That she was unique. That she was alone. Now the idea of another individual like her, or even more than one, is so momentous she can barely breathe.
She makes herself breathe.
whooo.
i was very excited to see another free tor short from this guy, after i loved-loved Our King and His Court: A Tor.com Original. that one had some violent bits that were maybe not for everyone, but this is more deeply sad and upsetting in a non-squirmy way, so i strongly suggest you all go read it. it is FREE. and it's been a rough week for people who seemed to have their shit together opting out, so there's a timeliness to reading a story so full of how desperately lonely this world can be, and the lengths to which people might go to feel connected, no matter how illusory. it's hard to exist in the world sometimes, but i promise you this story has a heartening ending, a sad-but-hopeful ache.
read it for yourself here: https://www.tor.com/2018/06/06/meat-a...
come to my blog!
July 16, 2018
All the stars for this Tor SF short story, free online here at Tor.com. Full review first posted on Fantasy Literature:
Al Huxley and Cu are detectives and partners in this near-future SF tale. Cu is a chimpanzee whose intelligence has been enhanced to human-level through a company’s cruel and illegal experimentation. Granted “personhood” rights ― and a hefty settlement ― in a court case, Cu still feels isolated. She’s most comfortable alone in her Washington state home, off Puget Sound, usually working with Huxley on a remote basis, and using sign language or a tablet and speech synthesizer to communicate with Huxley and other humans.
Cu and Huxley’s latest case is an apparently random subway murder by a young woman, Elody Polle. Their investigation leads to a technological phenomenon called echogirl/echoboy, where people allow others to buy the right to see through their eyes through contact lens-like cameras, listen through their ears, and give them a constant stream of instructions on what to do and say. Someone may have taken the echogirl role too far … But it proves extremely hard to trace whoever was behind Elody’s actions.
Small details in this story bring it to life, like Elody Polle’s mood-display floral pattern dress, where the flowers change from tight buds to full bloom depending on the wearer’s mood. Cu’s apartment is a marvel, filled with customized webbing and rafters for climbing, but it’s a little heartbreaking to read:
Al Huxley and Cu are detectives and partners in this near-future SF tale. Cu is a chimpanzee whose intelligence has been enhanced to human-level through a company’s cruel and illegal experimentation. Granted “personhood” rights ― and a hefty settlement ― in a court case, Cu still feels isolated. She’s most comfortable alone in her Washington state home, off Puget Sound, usually working with Huxley on a remote basis, and using sign language or a tablet and speech synthesizer to communicate with Huxley and other humans.
Cu and Huxley’s latest case is an apparently random subway murder by a young woman, Elody Polle. Their investigation leads to a technological phenomenon called echogirl/echoboy, where people allow others to buy the right to see through their eyes through contact lens-like cameras, listen through their ears, and give them a constant stream of instructions on what to do and say. Someone may have taken the echogirl role too far … But it proves extremely hard to trace whoever was behind Elody’s actions.
Small details in this story bring it to life, like Elody Polle’s mood-display floral pattern dress, where the flowers change from tight buds to full bloom depending on the wearer’s mood. Cu’s apartment is a marvel, filled with customized webbing and rafters for climbing, but it’s a little heartbreaking to read:
The design consultant, an excitable architect from Estonia, suggested artificial trees sprouting hydroponic moss. But Cu has no use for green things. She grew up in dull gray and antiseptic white.There’s a lot more going on in this story than I thought there would be when I started reading it. It’s insightful and contemplative, much more than a straightforward murder mystery starring a simian detective. Larson shares many details that make you feel Cu’s feelings of isolation and her aversion to public attention, which drive her to isolate herself in her apartment. It’s hard for Cu to feel comfortable in a human world where she doesn’t readily fit in. “Meat And Salt And Sparks” is rather melancholic but, in the end, also uplifting (pun totally intended, sorry!).
July 1, 2018
Included in my picks for the best short SFF of June 2018 https://1000yearplan.com/2018/06/30/t...
Rich Larson is a genre practitioner in the most literal sense possible, in that he practices genre the way a doctor practices medicine – collating as much knowledge about the craft as he can and applying it judiciously to achieve a desired effect. His new story for Tor.com, “Meat and Salt and Sparks”, is a cocktail of uplifted animals, detective noir, and cyberpunk futurism, and the result is both unnerving and gripping. Larson’s MO seems to be: “maybe you’ve seen this stuff before, but you’ve never seen it like this.” Cu is one of a kind – the only survivor of illegal brain enhancement experiments on chimpanzees, now a police detective (!?!), but isolated, lonely depressed. Solving crimes is the only thing that motivates her to keep going. When an “echo”, someone who allows another person to link with them and live vicariously through their body, commits a murder, the path to finding the true culprit leads right back to Cu’s origins. Larson has a talent for providing the reader with vivid details – emotional and visual – as well as taking common sci-fi tropes and spinning them just enough to make them seem new again. The bond between Cu and her human partner Huxley is heartwarming – he treats her like she is just another cop, while most people can’t get over the novelty: even perps want to take a selfie with her. Meat and Salt and Sparks is a nicely balanced work of fiction, with tone and pace and character and plot hitting all the right beats at all the right moments.
Rich Larson is a genre practitioner in the most literal sense possible, in that he practices genre the way a doctor practices medicine – collating as much knowledge about the craft as he can and applying it judiciously to achieve a desired effect. His new story for Tor.com, “Meat and Salt and Sparks”, is a cocktail of uplifted animals, detective noir, and cyberpunk futurism, and the result is both unnerving and gripping. Larson’s MO seems to be: “maybe you’ve seen this stuff before, but you’ve never seen it like this.” Cu is one of a kind – the only survivor of illegal brain enhancement experiments on chimpanzees, now a police detective (!?!), but isolated, lonely depressed. Solving crimes is the only thing that motivates her to keep going. When an “echo”, someone who allows another person to link with them and live vicariously through their body, commits a murder, the path to finding the true culprit leads right back to Cu’s origins. Larson has a talent for providing the reader with vivid details – emotional and visual – as well as taking common sci-fi tropes and spinning them just enough to make them seem new again. The bond between Cu and her human partner Huxley is heartwarming – he treats her like she is just another cop, while most people can’t get over the novelty: even perps want to take a selfie with her. Meat and Salt and Sparks is a nicely balanced work of fiction, with tone and pace and character and plot hitting all the right beats at all the right moments.
July 25, 2021
Cu shrugs a hairy shoulder. To her, all humans look like killers.
Cu and Hexley are detective partners and they come across a murder to investigate. They start their investigation and come across strange things and clues.
A mysterious and a fun short story. I am usually not a fan of murder mysteries but this was nicely put and based in the future. It is about how digital life would advance and affect people and their lives. Cu is amazing and likable instantly and she is a chimpanzee. Her intelligence has been advanced. Her background story is very sad and lonely but how she is pulling through is commendable. I liked the writing and the attention to detail. All I want is now a full length story based in this future world with Cu and her partner in it.
4 stars
Cu and Hexley are detective partners and they come across a murder to investigate. They start their investigation and come across strange things and clues.
A mysterious and a fun short story. I am usually not a fan of murder mysteries but this was nicely put and based in the future. It is about how digital life would advance and affect people and their lives. Cu is amazing and likable instantly and she is a chimpanzee. Her intelligence has been advanced. Her background story is very sad and lonely but how she is pulling through is commendable. I liked the writing and the attention to detail. All I want is now a full length story based in this future world with Cu and her partner in it.
4 stars
November 2, 2022
A gripping, fast-paced story about a genetically enhanced chimpanzee, investigating a mysterious murder case. This was an emotionally affecting read with immersive writing and a surprise ending that I did not see coming. I enjoyed Larson's writing style and will be checking out more of his work.
June 30, 2018
A pair of detectives investigate a murder, leading one of them down a path that just might start in her own past.
Rich Larson really knows how to write a short story - Cu will steal your heart straight away, and that connection makes her previous trauma absolutely heartbreaking. That bittersweet is shot through by hope, though, and in the end the whole thing became one of my favourite Tor shorts of 2018.
Find it here: https://www.tor.com/2018/06/06/meat-a...
Rich Larson really knows how to write a short story - Cu will steal your heart straight away, and that connection makes her previous trauma absolutely heartbreaking. That bittersweet is shot through by hope, though, and in the end the whole thing became one of my favourite Tor shorts of 2018.
Find it here: https://www.tor.com/2018/06/06/meat-a...
January 27, 2019
This is going on my Hugo nomination ballot for sure. I was just saying earlier today about how I dislike uplifted chimps (and other species) in SF, to a certain degree, and then Larson comes along with this gem.
August 12, 2018
A near-future sci-fi short story, free from TOR.com: HERE
So, a short story, a murder in a subway station, seemingly random, carried out by a girl with no prior form. Investigating the murder are Huxley, a detective and his partner Cu- a chimpanzee with enhanced intelligence (an up-lift) - the result of a company's illegal experimentation.
The story follows the earpiece the girl was wearing, and leads in a slow loop which delves in to the background of Cu. There are also compliance drugs, future tech, lifestyle entertainment, and dealing with the lonely isolation of being truly unique.
A good quick read. 4 Stars.
So, a short story, a murder in a subway station, seemingly random, carried out by a girl with no prior form. Investigating the murder are Huxley, a detective and his partner Cu- a chimpanzee with enhanced intelligence (an up-lift) - the result of a company's illegal experimentation.
The story follows the earpiece the girl was wearing, and leads in a slow loop which delves in to the background of Cu. There are also compliance drugs, future tech, lifestyle entertainment, and dealing with the lonely isolation of being truly unique.
A good quick read. 4 Stars.
January 1, 2025
Really compelling short story about a cop and his chimpanzee partner who are investigating a recent murder by a seemingly innocent woman. This did a great job of exploring what it is to be human and the evolution and dangers to interfering with nature versus technology.
June 15, 2020
A free tor short with an enhanced chimpanzee as the main character.
Cu and her human partner Al Huxley are working on a murder case that seems pretty straightforward at first. At a subway station a woman draws a gun, puts it to the head of a man and pulls the trigger. There’s video footage of the crime and the woman is in custody.
Turns out though that she is a so-called echogirl. Which means she’s got an earpiece and eyecam and basically rented her body out to someone who told her what to do.
But this story isn’t about the tech. It is about the people and what makes them put their life into the hands of someone else.
It is advertised as a murder mystery but doesn’t work very well as such. Because it puts all its cards on the table a little too early.
It works perfectly though as a story about being different and how lonely this can make one.
It is a sad story. But one that is ultimately uplifting.
3.5 stars
I round up to four because of the great ending and the fact that I’m almost certain this will work better on a second read, knowing what to expect.
This story can be read here.
Cu and her human partner Al Huxley are working on a murder case that seems pretty straightforward at first. At a subway station a woman draws a gun, puts it to the head of a man and pulls the trigger. There’s video footage of the crime and the woman is in custody.
Turns out though that she is a so-called echogirl. Which means she’s got an earpiece and eyecam and basically rented her body out to someone who told her what to do.
But this story isn’t about the tech. It is about the people and what makes them put their life into the hands of someone else.
It is advertised as a murder mystery but doesn’t work very well as such. Because it puts all its cards on the table a little too early.
It works perfectly though as a story about being different and how lonely this can make one.
It is a sad story. But one that is ultimately uplifting.
3.5 stars
I round up to four because of the great ending and the fact that I’m almost certain this will work better on a second read, knowing what to expect.
This story can be read here.
February 12, 2019
This is a short SF story, which is eligible for Hugo Award 2019. It was initially published by Tor.com.
The story follows an uplifted ape Cu, who works in NY Police. The mystery she and her partner Al Huxley should unravel is straightforward on a first sight. There are camera feeds that show a woman coming next to a man and shooting him in the head. However, it appears that the woman is ‘echogirl’, one of a newly fashionable pastime where one person ‘drives’ another. Unlike usual SF trope, it is not a pure mind control, but more like a cosplay.
It is hard to rate this story. On the one hand, it was quite clearly telegraphed early on, who could be the true mastermind behind the murder, so as a mystery it fails for me. On the other, the background story of the uplifted ape, the reason behind the murder and the finale are very well done and worth high ratings. I will gladly read other stories set in the same universe.
The story follows an uplifted ape Cu, who works in NY Police. The mystery she and her partner Al Huxley should unravel is straightforward on a first sight. There are camera feeds that show a woman coming next to a man and shooting him in the head. However, it appears that the woman is ‘echogirl’, one of a newly fashionable pastime where one person ‘drives’ another. Unlike usual SF trope, it is not a pure mind control, but more like a cosplay.
It is hard to rate this story. On the one hand, it was quite clearly telegraphed early on, who could be the true mastermind behind the murder, so as a mystery it fails for me. On the other, the background story of the uplifted ape, the reason behind the murder and the finale are very well done and worth high ratings. I will gladly read other stories set in the same universe.
June 11, 2018
So sad. But hopeful too. 5, I’m about to cry but am smiling too, stars. Short freebie. Worth the read.
August 23, 2018
Disponível de graça no site da editora Tor.
Continho sci-fi muito muito bonito e triste e tocante. Tire alguns minutos do seu dia pra ler. (Peguei essa mania de ler os contos da Tor aos poucos durante o expediente. Ninguém pode me impedir de cumprir minha meta de 70 livros assim.)
Continho sci-fi muito muito bonito e triste e tocante. Tire alguns minutos do seu dia pra ler. (Peguei essa mania de ler os contos da Tor aos poucos durante o expediente. Ninguém pode me impedir de cumprir minha meta de 70 livros assim.)
March 2, 2019
I envy you, Rich Larson, for being so young and talented. Another fascinating story, masterfully crafted with an endearing voice. Give me more story about Cu, the uplifted chimpanzee, will ya?
May 2, 2019
Good but very dark SF murder-mystery. If you like dark stories, you may rate it higher. Definitely well-written. You should probably wait to read the longer reviews here until after you've read the story. 3.4 stars, for me. A story I admire more than like.
December 30, 2019
Day "7" in my 24 Days of Shorts
Noiresque futuristic detective murder mystery? Yes, please! Put a chimp on the cover? yeah that's gonna freak me out and make me avoid the story for a ridiculously long time. My loss. Because this was awesome! I feel silly for putting it off for so long, and very glad that I finally read it.
One disappointment: But that would have changed the ending.
It was a great ending. I'd like to read more about Detectives Cu & Huxley, but this ending feels complete, so if there's never anything more from Cu, that's okay too.
read it for yourself here:
https://www.tor.com/2018/06/06/meat-a...
My 24 Days of Shorts
1. File N°002 by Sylvain Neuvel
2. File N°247 by Sylvain Neuvel
3. Skinner Box by Carole Johnstone
4. The Weight of Memories by Liu Cixin
5. A Fist of Permutations in Lightning and Wildflowers by Alyssa Wong
6. If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again by Zen Cho
7. Meat And Salt And Sparks by Rich Larson
8. Seven Birthdays by Ken Liu
9. Where Would You Be Now? by Carrie Vaughn
10. Old Media by Annalee Newitz
11. The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz
12. Sweetlings by Lucy Taylor
13. An Unexpected Honor by Ursula Vernon
14. Hell is the Absence of God by Ted Chiang
15. A Love Story by Samantha Hunt
16. The Lake by Tananarive Due
17. Ghost Hedgehog by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
18. Finnegan's Field by Angela Slatter
19. Among the Thorns by Veronica Schanoes
20. Rag and Bone by Priya Sharma
21. The Mothers of Voorhisville by Mary Rickert
22. As Good as New by Charlie Jane Anders
23. Twixt Firelight and Water by Juliet Marillier
24. The Christmas Show by Pat Cadigan
In Most Ways You Are More Like Them. You Are All Meat And Salt And Sparks. But Even So You Will Not Understand Them. They Will Not Understand You.
Noiresque futuristic detective murder mystery? Yes, please! Put a chimp on the cover? yeah that's gonna freak me out and make me avoid the story for a ridiculously long time. My loss. Because this was awesome! I feel silly for putting it off for so long, and very glad that I finally read it.
One disappointment: But that would have changed the ending.
It was a great ending. I'd like to read more about Detectives Cu & Huxley, but this ending feels complete, so if there's never anything more from Cu, that's okay too.
read it for yourself here:
https://www.tor.com/2018/06/06/meat-a...
My 24 Days of Shorts
1. File N°002 by Sylvain Neuvel
2. File N°247 by Sylvain Neuvel
3. Skinner Box by Carole Johnstone
4. The Weight of Memories by Liu Cixin
5. A Fist of Permutations in Lightning and Wildflowers by Alyssa Wong
6. If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again by Zen Cho
7. Meat And Salt And Sparks by Rich Larson
8. Seven Birthdays by Ken Liu
9. Where Would You Be Now? by Carrie Vaughn
10. Old Media by Annalee Newitz
11. The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz
12. Sweetlings by Lucy Taylor
13. An Unexpected Honor by Ursula Vernon
14. Hell is the Absence of God by Ted Chiang
15. A Love Story by Samantha Hunt
16. The Lake by Tananarive Due
17. Ghost Hedgehog by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
18. Finnegan's Field by Angela Slatter
19. Among the Thorns by Veronica Schanoes
20. Rag and Bone by Priya Sharma
21. The Mothers of Voorhisville by Mary Rickert
22. As Good as New by Charlie Jane Anders
23. Twixt Firelight and Water by Juliet Marillier
24. The Christmas Show by Pat Cadigan
May 5, 2019
Excellent short, kind of a new twist on an old theme. Well written with some real soul.
February 22, 2023
What a fantastic story. Intriguing, strange, compelling, an unexpected way to ask some old questions. Just, wow.
May 25, 2020
This story was intriguing, thought-provoking, and ultimately heartbreaking, all in a very small package. A little cyberpunk world-building, an ethical minefield of animal experimentation, and the ache of a form of loneliness the depth of which none of us can fully experience. I teared up at some of Cu's, a neutrally enhanced chimpanzee, memories and again at the ending of the story.
Oh, and it's also a murder mystery. Cu works with the police department.
We've barely scratched the surface, in our human hubris, of understanding the baseline intelligence of other species, even among our closest ape cousins let alone other highly intelligent species which may have substantially more different ways of thinking...cetaceans, cephalopods, corvids, etc.
I suspect Cu will stick in my mind for a long time.
Also, on a lighter note, "meat and salt and sparks" now ranks right up there with "ugly giant bags of mostly water"* as a description of us in all our organic, biologic glory.
* The description of humans as "ugly giant bags of mostly water" comes from the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Home Soil, a humbling assessment indeed.
Oh, and it's also a murder mystery. Cu works with the police department.
We've barely scratched the surface, in our human hubris, of understanding the baseline intelligence of other species, even among our closest ape cousins let alone other highly intelligent species which may have substantially more different ways of thinking...cetaceans, cephalopods, corvids, etc.
I suspect Cu will stick in my mind for a long time.
Also, on a lighter note, "meat and salt and sparks" now ranks right up there with "ugly giant bags of mostly water"* as a description of us in all our organic, biologic glory.
* The description of humans as "ugly giant bags of mostly water" comes from the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Home Soil, a humbling assessment indeed.
July 4, 2018
When I was about a quarter of the way through this, I thought oh my god, I think I know where this story is going. Even about 3/4 of the way through I was worried. But nope, Larson doesn't quite follow the obvious, which is great. I loved the sentient, non-human narrator, which reminds me of the old David Brin Uplift novels I enjoyed so much when I was a wee sprog. You can read Meat and Salt and sparks over at Tor.com https://www.tor.com/2018/06/06/meat-a...
August 9, 2019
Great short story, as dark as beautiful.
May 30, 2022
Starts out as a detective story about a man and an Ape trying to solve a murder but ends up bding some thing else, something better.
July 10, 2018
Oh noooooooo now I'm crying over a chimpanzee. This is a lovely story which is not actually about crime but about uplift. I appreciated the quiet character development, the well-realized nonhuman POV, the explicit mention that chimpanzees are apes and not monkeys...I loved it. Bittersweet but very well done.
July 30, 2024
Yet another fabulous story by one of my favourite short-story authors! Very highly recommended. He has had many stories published in Gardner Dozois' amazing "Year's Best Science Fiction" series of collections - do yourself a favour and check them out.
My rating system:
Since Goodreads only allows 1 to 5 stars (no half-stars), you have no option but to be ruthless. I reserve one star for a book that is a BOMB - or poor (equivalent to a letter grade of F, E, or at most D). Progressing upwards, 2 stars is equivalent to C (C -, C or C+), 3 stars (equals to B - or B), 4 stars (equals B+ or A -), and 5 stars (equals A or A+). As a result, I maximize my rating space for good books, and don't waste half or more of that rating space on books that are of marginal quality.
My rating system:
Since Goodreads only allows 1 to 5 stars (no half-stars), you have no option but to be ruthless. I reserve one star for a book that is a BOMB - or poor (equivalent to a letter grade of F, E, or at most D). Progressing upwards, 2 stars is equivalent to C (C -, C or C+), 3 stars (equals to B - or B), 4 stars (equals B+ or A -), and 5 stars (equals A or A+). As a result, I maximize my rating space for good books, and don't waste half or more of that rating space on books that are of marginal quality.
January 5, 2026
Al Huxley and Cu are police detective partners. Huxley is human while Cu is a chimpanzee whose intelligence has been enhanced via cruel and illegal experimentation, for which she has been "compensated." They are asked to solve a subway murder committed by a young woman, Elody Polle. They discover she has been controlled by a third party via a technology innovation: echogirl/echoboy, where third parties acquire the ability to see and hear through another person as well as provide instructions. Elody is devastated that her "friend" has used and then abandoned her to connect with Cu. I did not find the ending uplifting, as many others who rated this short story five stars.
August 20, 2018
Arrrgh.
I didn't realize this was a short story until I finished it, so the ending really punched me in the gut!
This was such a great little story about humanity and intelligence and identity and belonging...all those good things. Our protagonist is an intelligent ape, created through an experiment that failed on all the other subjects. She is alone in the world, the only one of her kind, made by humans who didn't really know what to do with her now that their experiment had succeeded once. Now she's a "person" and lives her own life but it's very lonely. This story was so sad.
I didn't realize this was a short story until I finished it, so the ending really punched me in the gut!
This was such a great little story about humanity and intelligence and identity and belonging...all those good things. Our protagonist is an intelligent ape, created through an experiment that failed on all the other subjects. She is alone in the world, the only one of her kind, made by humans who didn't really know what to do with her now that their experiment had succeeded once. Now she's a "person" and lives her own life but it's very lonely. This story was so sad.
October 24, 2022
Meat and Salt and Sparks by author Rich Larson is a short story you can read for free on the Tor.com site https://www.tor.com/2018/06/06/meat-a...
A futuristic murder mystery about detective partners—a human and an enhanced chimpanzee—who are investigating why a woman murdered an apparently random stranger on the subway.
These Rich Larson shorts are so good, so let’s do another one. Poignant and bittersweet. Another 5 star one for Larson.
5 Stars
A futuristic murder mystery about detective partners—a human and an enhanced chimpanzee—who are investigating why a woman murdered an apparently random stranger on the subway.
These Rich Larson shorts are so good, so let’s do another one. Poignant and bittersweet. Another 5 star one for Larson.
5 Stars
February 11, 2023
Damn, I wish this was a novel. Fantastic.
The little blurb on GR says: "A futuristic murder mystery about detective partners—a human and an enhanced chimpanzee—who are investigating why a woman murdered an apparently random stranger on the subway."
But it's not a mystery. It's not about some hunt for the killer. I wish Larson had used that option to draw it out, explore, get to know Cu better, and the killer. But what we got was awesome, and I'll be looking for something else by Larson to read.
The little blurb on GR says: "A futuristic murder mystery about detective partners—a human and an enhanced chimpanzee—who are investigating why a woman murdered an apparently random stranger on the subway."
But it's not a mystery. It's not about some hunt for the killer. I wish Larson had used that option to draw it out, explore, get to know Cu better, and the killer. But what we got was awesome, and I'll be looking for something else by Larson to read.
November 9, 2018
Detective and sci-fi?!! Count me in!
Darn, I was hooked from the very beginning, and this is my favorite line. It's a well-written, well-crafted, and touching short story; the writing is pretty tight. Cu, for all she's different, is very relatable. Gotta mention that I really liked the non-human narrator. And the ending! Such a gut-wrenching ending!
To her, all humans look like killers.
Darn, I was hooked from the very beginning, and this is my favorite line. It's a well-written, well-crafted, and touching short story; the writing is pretty tight. Cu, for all she's different, is very relatable. Gotta mention that I really liked the non-human narrator. And the ending! Such a gut-wrenching ending!
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