Zero Bomb

by M.T. Hill, Matt Hill

The near future. Following the death of his daughter Martha, Remi flees the north of England for London. Here he tries to rebuild his life as a cycle courier, delivering subversive documents under the nose of an all-seeing state.

But when a driverless car attempts to run him over, Remi soon discovers that his old life will not let him move on so easily. Someone is leaving coded messages for Remi across the city, and they seem to suggest that Martha is not dead at all.

Unsure what to believe, and increasingly unable to trust his memory, Remi is slowly drawn into the web of a dangerous radical whose '70s sci-fi novel is now a manifesto for direct action against automation, technology, and England itself.

The deal? Remi can see Martha again - if he joins the cause.

From Philip K. Dick Award-nominated author M.T. Hill, The Zero Bomb is a startling science fiction mystery that asks: what do we do when technology replaces our need to work?

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Dystopia, Fantasy, Thriller, Speculative Fiction, Near Future

303 pages, Paperback

First published March 19, 2019

Reviews

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t realise until the end of ‘Zero Bomb’ that I’d read something else by the same author using a slightly different pen name, The Folded Man. My reaction to both was broadly similar: potentially interesting ideas and world-building details, but rather a lack of substance. In the case of ‘Zero Bomb’, the blurb clearly states the central theme: automation of people’s jobs. Unfortunately the book then doesn’t have much to say about it. The main characters are caught up in a mysterious conspiracy involving opposition to automation, rather than actively choosing to resist it. The shadowy conspiracy seemed needlessly melodramatic, because opposing wholesale automation isn’t a particularly exotic or bizarre political position. Why not have discussions about it? Why bother to elaborately manipulate someone into participating, when you could just appeal to their loss of livelihood? And why on earth involve a cyborg fox in the role of femme fatale?

The novel’s central section is supposedly an extract from an older sci-fi novel, the significance of which was rather lost on me. I’d have preferred it to be a broader retro pastiche, in order to more clearly differentiate it. I preferred the final section, as Martha was an appealing character and I liked the hippy prosthetic farm she lived on. Overall, I think this novel promised more than it could deliver on. The narrative structure and world-building were fun, however the underlying philosophy didn’t make sufficient sense to tie it all together.

[Krystelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first bit of this book was very interesting and reeled me in straight off. Post-modern Britain engaged in a super surveillance state whilst also losing much of their core workforce to automation? Fascinating. However, it took a weird turn after being introduced to Rupal (which I could not read without reading ‘Rupaul’) and just went down the tubes. I understand it’s a homage to the genre, and having vacuumed up as much classic sci-fi as I possibly could during my childhood, I see the influences, but it just didn’t feel as full as it could have. I would have preferred a slow dissection of societal pressures and issues but instead got disjointed narratives and a disappointing ending.

[Kirsty Stanley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A clever speculative fiction/dystopia exploring the effects of automation on society. For me it felt almost like a cross between Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and Terminator with shades of Station Eleven.

The book is told in 5 parts. Part 1 focuses on Remi and most closely follows the synopsis, Part 2 is an abridged version of sci-fi novel The Cold Veil (Prologue, Ch 1, Ch 13 and Epilogue), Part 3 is one sided correspondence from a woman in the cause on how they target Remi, Part 4 focuses on Martha and Part 5 on THEMIS!!!

This actually worked fairly well although I would have liked to come back to Remi’s point of view towards the end. Part 4 allowed the reader more knowledge than Martha which ramped up the tension and curiosity. Part 5 perhaps leaves scope for follow up?

Most importantly I would really love to read a full version of The Cold Veil. This was the most Terminator like part of the story with a full robot takeover and part of it took place in Southampton and the New Forest - so not too far from me. Also I love when the power of stories is explored and the family relationships in this were so well described in such a short space of time.

In the main story Remi and Martha are both sympathetic characters in their own right and I did connect most with their aspects of the story although they actually have very little time together. The robotic fox Rupal was also a very dynamic character and perhaps not what she first seems.

There is a lot of social commentary in the early part of the book exploring automation, Brexit and referendums get a mention, increasing racial tensions and the mental health effects of the build up of bad news. I empathised so much with Remi’s need to switch off from the latter but also with the concern that the lack of engagement can also cause. It’s a real balancing act in today’s connected life.

How people are radicalised into committing terrorist acts even when they start off with positive intentions was also examined. The Zero Bomb of the title is the goal to switch off electricity and stop automation - how would we cope?

This book has left me with lots of questions and ponderings and I suspect I shall do a re-read in the future. I do wish that some aspects and relationships had been explored in a little more depth, especially how the sci-fi author moves from novelist to activist when the world isn’t quite as dire as in her imagined future (at least not yet).

I read this in a day. It was really well paced and I could easily imagine the future London described.

I was gifted this copy by Lydia at Titan books for the purposes of this honest review.

[Marta Lis · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am gonna have to go with a "no" for this one. Started off really well: Remi loses his 7 year-old daughter and can not cope with that. Moves to London from Manchester to try to sort out his life. And then it gets super-weird. Don't get me wrong: the idea is pretty solid: there is a bunch of people who have a bad feelings about all this automatic world and wants to start a revolution against in before the electronic world takes over humanity.
But you can not write such a story on 300 pages. No can do. There is also very little dialogue which creates ever slower pace. In conclusion: no, thank you. Sorry.

[J.L. Slipak · Rating 4 out of 5]

MY THOUGHTS:

I received this book in exchange for my honest review.

Well, this is definitely different. It’s a science fiction that throws a pitch against technological advancements, automation and England itself by using complicated character developments, fragmented plotting and shifting POVs that are often confusing and conflicting. Bizarre and often typical of this type of science fiction, this book reaks with audacity.

There’s some hidden truths within this book’s pages often hinting at what we could become if we’re not careful with our technological advancements. I get the cryptic messages often skimmed over and shadowed beneath strange imagery and nuances crying loudly that the contents of this story mirror a near future plausibility. I also get the warnings of catastrophic finality to human purpose should technology prevail and human virtue diminish.

There’s a mystery twisted in all this camoflauged by riotous behaviors brought on by struggles to withstand change via adherance, decorum and love, some redundant because of psycodelic cliches.

Can we say Matrix? Ermmm maybe around the edges, but I’ll add not entirely so. This is a speculative science fiction...

I suppose the book is indeed felicitous considering where our current technological advancements are at, making this more like “Westworldish.”

It was a tough read and I found myself frowning a lot and scoffing at some of the passages. However, the writing was incredible and insightful if not a bit over the top, which when science fictions, this could be a good thing.

[Markus Svensson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Modern day dystopia with a sometimes nice surreal twist. This feels like a very british Brexit-version of the classic man again machine-theme we know from the dystopia genre. Really liked the surreal animal/machine symbiosis and the very engaging first third of the book, but wanted it sometimes to be even more "out-there" sometimes. Didn´t really care for the post-modern genre-blending, though. So, all in all, engaging, but not life-changing.

[Museofnyxmares · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Gifted)

Blog Post: https://museofnyxmares.wordpress.com/...

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*I was provided with a copy by the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was a very different type of novel then I’m used to, but I thought that I would give it a try, as the premise sounded interesting enough to me and I’m a sucker for a good cover. I didn’t know what to expect with this one and I’m still not quite sure what to make of it, as there were things that I liked and a lot of things that didn’t quite work for me. Given the synopsis, I wasn’t expecting it to take the turns that it did, as it is split into several different parts, with each part, seeming to almost carry a different writing style. I don’t want to go too much into detail about the different parts, but I ultimately enjoyed the second to last section of the book a lot more than the other parts. I think that this was because it felt a lot more cohesive and had a storyline that I could follow more easily. There were also a lot of characters involved in this part, compared to the others, and it grounded me in the story a lot more to be able to latch onto them.

The first part of the book basically follows Remi and how he lives and then how he gets caught up in something much bigger then him. I get that Remi was being pursued by these ‘others’, but I didn’t really feel that much tension or any real sense of anticipation about what was happening. It just felt a bit too scattered and Remi seemed to comply far too easily, meaning that it didn’t carry the thrilling aspect of a pursuit that I thought it was going to. I’m also still unclear about what was actually happening between Remi and these ‘others’, as when things started to become a bit more developed in this area, we suddenly moved into another section. I really would’ve liked to have spent more time on this, because I felt like it was really promising, and it would’ve made me enjoy this more, if it had been explored further than it was. Throughout Remi’s early section and in the section where we looked at the story mentioned in the book, I was just quite confused.

The later sections of the book also had their confusing moments, because of me still being uncertain about what happened in the earlier sections. But unlike the other sections, we had a proper cast of characters and a protagonist that had a lot more personality than Remi. This instantly made this section a lot more entertaining to me, as I enjoyed forming opinions on these characters. It was also somewhat clearer here, what was going on. The writing style here seemed to change a lot and was a lot better, in my opinion. The writing flowed a lot more and gave me characters with depth, the suspense and tension in this part were fully felt and allowed me to lose myself in the story a bit more.

I thought that this was going to display a Britain that was much more heavily reliant on machines, especially given the agenda of the ‘others’. However, I didn’t really feel like it was that big of a step up from our current society and so I couldn’t fully grasp or appreciate the urgency that was presented about machines taking over. I know I keep talking about this mysterious second to last section, but I honestly wouldn’t of minded reading a full novel about it. There were definitely some interesting aspects in this about our reliance on technology though.

[Stephanie Gillis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Literally have no idea what I just read. I could not tell you the actual plot. The prose was stilted and had me nodding off a lot. I ended up having to skim just to get through it. It was just boring. I hated Remi. I didn’t care about any characters. They were all just bland and nothing. I really have nothing to say about this book. It’s told in five different parts. Two of them being character povs, then three chapters of the fictional book mentioned, a one-sided correspondence and then a final report. None of these were engaging in any way. this whole book was such a waste of my time. Was it trying to be something super deep? Probably. Did it fail at that? Absolutely. It’s more like a Luddite manifesto of hurr durr technology bad.

[Millie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was so bad

[Kayt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting story and thought provoking. The only downside is that the environment and events were sometimes hard to make sense of without an available definition of the futuristic words and items.

It was somewhat mysterious and I enjoyed the pacing and varied methods of story delivery throughout the book.

[Travis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ultimately, Zero Bomb might have lofty goals but it never bothers try and reach them.

It wants to examine how technology and automation affect society, particularly replacing human workers. The tag line is "what do we do when technology replaces our need to work?" but it never really asks that nor does it try to provide any answers. There's some mentions of universal basic income and a driverless car, but otherwise there wasn't that much automation. The only attempt at commentary came in snippets like

With no one left to serve, no roles left to supplant, what else existed for these machines to do but go on mining the Earth’s resources and making each other? It was the triumph of narcissism. It was a doom spiral. It was the worst vestiges of human nature imprinted on to them.

I jumped at the use of "automatic" in the phrase "automatic England," since one of my favorite novels is Automated Alice by Jeff Noon, another British science fiction writer. Save yourself the time and just go read anything by Noon instead of Zero Bomb. Or read Infinite Detail, which handles the surveillance state element way better than this novel.

The novel is divided into five parts. The first part focuses on Remi, a man caught up in some mysterious conspiracy that never really makes sense. The second part is a book within a book, but feels mostly like a light riff on Terminator without the time travel. The third part is whole bunch of telling instead of showing as it presents one side of an email exchange to fill in some gaps from the first part. The fourth part is just plain boring with tons of lead up to the predictable conclusion. The fifth part is a government report complete with [redacted] to give it a classified feel, but it doesn't feel attached to the rest of the novel.

Each part was so different from the others that it wound up feeling disjointed. The third part is a lot of exposition without action. The fifth part feels tacked on. The fourth part is boring.

And I'm still not sure what the significance of the fox is. I couldn't tell what its motivation was or even which side it was on.

There's some attempts at nice language, at least.

A large city in total darkness except for white-hot patches of things burning, encircled by a vast, unbroken line of streetlamps and car headlights. It’s as if some regretful god has draped a circle of black cloth upon the place, lest they accidentally look at it. Dead motorways and lightless high-rises, shadows only hinting at infrastructure. Everything shorn of civilising lines and angles.

But too often it felt like the author writing to write something flowery and literary sounding.

I wish I could remember what recommendation led me to read this book. I was sorely disappointed.

[Steph Bennion · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm... Well, the blurb says, "Zero Bomb is a startling science fiction mystery that asks: what do we do when technology replaces our need to work?". Not for me it didn't. The book doesn't really go into depth around this question - ideas like universal basic income get the briefest of mentions - but it has some interesting ideas about radicalisation, albeit thinly plotted. In the end I just didn't care for any of the protagonists. It was the cover that drew me to this one...!

[Elliot · Rating 3 out of 5]

there's a bit in the book where the main character reads a book and kind of rags on it, suggesting it's not super well written and a little cliche and then we have to read 4 chapters of that book like why set us up like that? Like "warning the next 4 chapters aren't that good and also you HAVE to read them." Uncool!

Also SPOILERS

The fox from the front cover gets repeatedly stabbed with a screwdriver so enjoy that too

[Mary Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are several narratives in this novel and the transitions between scenes are quite jarring. Did the author not want to link them more closely? Perhaps the jarring effect is to demonstrate how disparate we are coming as individuals.

[Runalong · Rating 5 out of 5]

A new writer for me but it’s a very clever and brilliant look at how fears for the future can make it even worse

https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...

[Tom Brailli · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to write a spoiler free review, which is difficult.

I’ll read anything with Nina Allan’s name on the cover, even if it is just a recommendation. And, to be fair, this was roughly what I’d expect from one of Allen’s books. There’s a confused narrative, with multiple narrators who are all, to varying extents, unreliable. The middle section of the book is mostly in the form of partially-recovered documents that bridge the gap between the first and last sections, while also contradicting them. While it never quite reaches Allen’s quality, and there are no sections where the speculative elements disappear entirely (a staple of Allen’s work), there are clear similarities to be drawn. I’ve also seen people compare this to the works of Emily Mandel, Phil Dick, and Ken Macleod, and yes, those are all useful touchstones.

What let me down slightly was just how good the first section was. The first section begins in the present (or rather 2022) and briefly skims through 15 years. Then there is a sudden onset of plot: we’re plunged into a dystopian spy thriller with psychological elements. This section was really, really good. I was gripped. I found my reading pace picking up without effort. I usually read at about 60 pages per hour, but I read the first 110 pages in about 70 minutes.

The middle section is inevitably a bit dull - has there ever been a good book within a book? - before the final section which was... good. It was good. It was like stepping out of a hot bath and into a warm one. I wanted my psychological thriller. I got a Nina Allen book. I think I felt the same when I read The Race, but at least there, when you’re grieving for your telekinetic greyhound you get to meet a telekinetic superwhale and allow the contradictions to sit in your head. In the second half of this book, I just didn’t care. I didn’t have any thinking to do. I’m not sure if the twist was even supposed to be a twist.

I think I got two halves of two connected stories. Either of the stories on its own would probably have been worth five stars. But together, I have one story without an end and one without a beginning.

[Hugo · Rating 2 out of 5]

A simple, easy read; ostensibly a post-Brexit dystopia, touching on job automation, universal credit, disenfranchisement and radicalisation, without discussing any of them in any detail, and throughout Hill is seeming to reach towards the ambitions of other, better books rather than writing something of his own.

Interesting opening section, dealing in a sympathetic portrait of an ordinary man and what leads him to terrible acts - though the surreal aspects seem like pretensions towards the works of Nick Harkaway and Michael Marshall Smith, though not at all as well done (The Gone-Away World and Only Forward work by weaving oddness around and into their protagonists, and achieve the effect of making the surreal part of them, with emotional effect - something Hill does not manage).

The middle sections, presented as fragments of an old sci-fi novel and security documents, add little to the narrative, detract from the pace, and seem like attempts to recreate the faceted storytelling of Station Eleven; again, with unrealised ambition.

The final section is the book's strength: presented with simple people living in the future they had not expected, the changed world around them presented to the reader in an organic and interesting fashion. Then the book ties the few threads together - as mentioned, to little emotional effect - and then stops.

[Tasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have just finished this, and am wondering what on earth to make of it! It was well written, and covered some big topics, but I'm not sure if I got everything. To sum up, it's a political cyperpunk British novel - and what happens when the rebellion kicks in? I think.

Blurb:
The near future. Following the death of his daughter Martha, Remi flees north of England for London. Here he tries to rebuild his life as a cycle courier, delivering subversive documents under the nose of an all-seeing state.
But when a driverless car attempts to run him over, Remi soon discovers that his old life will not let him move on so easily. Someone is leaving coded messages for Remi across the city, and they seem to suggest that Martha is not dead at all.
Unsure what to believe, and increasingly unable to trust his memory, Remi is slowly drawn into the web of a dangerous radical whose 70's sci-fi novel is now a manifesto for direct action against automation, technology and England itself.
The deal? Remi can see Martha again - if he joins the cause.


It was a bit muddled, and felt like three different novels - one for Remi, one for Martha, and a novel somewhere in between. All well written, but I simply couldn't engage in it all. And I'm left rather confused.

An interesting read, but not one I shall be repeating. Thanks to A Box of Stories #ABoS for sending me something to challenge me. It definitely did that.... But off to the charity shop it will go, now that I've finally finished it.

[A.K. Alliss · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an advanced reader copy of this novel and this review is of my own choosing

Hill intrigues again with his original brand of Brit-Cyberpunk. I do hesitate to throw this in the Cyberpunk barrel because all of his works strike from their own source rather than be derivative of anything currently or previously written.

With a story that begins straight forward enough, Hill quickly pulls an impressive literary sleight of hand to quickly move things off kilter. Commencing with a man, working as a bike courier in an Orwellian future, delivering a black market manuscript, it isn't long before we are tipped over a precipice, grappling with weighty themes as we are pulled into the descent.

There are unexpected character arcs, Watchmen like stories within stories and genuinely taut examinations of familial relationships that show an accomplished author at the top of his game. His visually striking and craftman like approach to story telling would sit at home amongst the likes of Christopher Nolan or Sam Mendes while still maintaining the literary chops of William Gibson or Dashiell Hammett.

While I am unabashedly a fan of his earlier novel, The Folded Man, this work showed a true progression of a brave and unflinching writer.

[Rhiannon Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

The picture of the near future M.T. Hill paints in Zero Bomb is most certainly a worrying one. Even more troublesome than the automation and technology mentioned in the blurb (above) is the notion that this future laid out in broad strokes could nearly become a reality. It’s absolute brilliance and I loved it.

I did find characterization to be slightly less than I would have liked. Remi, as a father, is fully fleshed out, but I didn’t get to see much of him outside of fatherhood and I think a little bit of that would have gone a long way. Obviously, in a standalone novel, there isn’t time to write every single aspect of a character’s life and personality, but a tad more could have given the story a boost.

The story itself moves quickly, slinging the reader to a whole new world, much to the author’s praise. I sincerely hope M.T. Hill keeps writing great books, perhaps taking a tad more time to work out the main character’s lives before the novel takes place and presenting the relativity to the story in a more articulate way. I look forward to it and I hope M.T. Hill is up for the challenge.

[Despoina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had no idea this was such a dystopian book. I saw 'fiction' and thought it’d be interesting. I hate sad books with a passion—if I want to feel sad, I’ll look up from a book and take a look at the real world. Books, for me, are a way to escape reality.

It’s not that the book is badly written or anything, I just really didn’t enjoy it. I liked the fourth part about Martha though.

Remi is a delusional fuck who would rather murder and/or abandon his family than actually help them—get them somewhere safe or you know... protect them. Crazy idea right?

And what the absolute fuck was all that about the underground hidden community? Everything about it felt so wrong and dangerous. Poisonous, even. A cult, maybe? I didn’t really understand what they were or why they thought this was the best course of action.

Rupal is a robot, I know, but I would’ve liked to read at least one scene where it gets some damn love. It’s an animal for a reason.

Overall, I just didn’t get this book and kept getting lost. Some parts made my skin crawl. From now on, I’m checking carefully whether a book is happy or sad before reading.

Didn’t understand the title, but oh well.

[Trash Panzer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book left me with a lot to think about. I'm sure I'll be rereading it in a year or so, with fresh eyes, as history and technology move onward. There's a transition from one narrative to another (related) one halfway through the book that was somewhat jarring, but that feels like it was meant to be. It's weird because I almost feel more could have been done with this mechanic, but I'm not sure what I would have added or done differently. Hill's descriptions of life are as bleak and downtrodden (and as human) as they were in Graft. It's a world that's slumping and slouching into a hi-tech decline after stubbornly failing to become its best self, yet one that also on some level feels very much like it's madly pinwheeling its arms on the edge of an abyss that only some of the characters can see. What is the role of science fiction in a world which increasingly refuses to heed its warnings? Or which takes away the wrong lessons from it? When it feels like the future is roaring down on us like an avalanche, which way will we leap?

[Grey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm sad to say that this was quite disappointing — the premise and the world are incredibly interesting, and I love the sound of the setting. However, the story told through it isn't very interesting. The two main characters are not very likeable, and their lives and journeys were somehow boring despite the cool world. The big reveal at the end was just kind of plopped there and not much happened with it, which was unfortunate. Could have been much cooler.

I found myself getting confused many times over the elaborate descriptions and metaphors used to write this book, and while it is set in a different world from the one we the readers exist in, the differences are not described very well, just namedropped and never explained.

Overall, I really wanted to like this book. But it was convoluted yet somehow disinteresting, with a writing style that's difficult to understand at times.

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ummmm.....it's....good?

the first part was tough to be completely honest, and I wasn't a huge fan. I think that it's meant to reflect Remi's fragile and fractured state of mind, which if so, is very well done, but perhaps it was too well done. That said, once part II begins, it was better reading (from my perspective).

the setting itself is quite fascinating, a chilling near future in a Britain that is recognizable, yet terrifying. a hypercapitalist surveillance state slowing crushing everyone except the ruling class and ultrarich.

It's a very interesting story, and I enjoyed how it was told, but as I said, the first section was a bit rough for me, but that may not be the case for others.

[Annette · Rating 2 out of 5]

Before I read this book I noted the mixed reviews but the synopsis sounded interesting so I decided to see which way I fell on this book. This book was not for me. I did not feel anything for the characters. The premise was interesting in regard to the fight against a totally automated society but the story did not grab me or make me really care what happened to the characters. In some ways it reminded me of Fahrenheit 451 but the way the story was told was not nearly as compelling, at least for me. I can see where some people may have really liked this book, but again, it was not for me.

[Henk · Rating 2 out of 5]

This science fiction novel is set in the near future (of which some parts are soon to be the past). It tells the story of the fear for technology and sounds sometimes (too) familiar. It is unclear who the real protagonist in the story is, but the structure of the novel is well thought out. The author tries to recreate the epic storylines of the sf-novels of the seventies and eighties. This, however, is not an undivided success. At the end of the book the reader is not kept in doubt about his own thoughts of the matter and that was what made the science fiction of decades ago great.

[Heather Warner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to say......I haven’t any clue how to describe this book! I have not read anything quite like it and I think it’s a book I am going to have to reread. Very intriguing story set in the near future where work has been replaced with technology.....and that is about all I can explain! Just read it for yourself if you are looking for something to make you think. I think my favorite character was the fox! (You’ll see why when you read the book!). Excellent book and one that I recommend. I would like to read something else by this author.

[Ashley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Maybe it’s my fault for giving this book a chance. Even after seeing this book, I KNEW I wouldn’t like it. I literally judge books by their covers. I should’ve listened to my intuition because I hated this book so much.

I was ANGRY every time I had to pick up this book and force myself to finish it. I know people say that you can always put a book down and not have to finish it but I had already done that with 5 previous books and I needed to finish a book.

I hated this. So so much. I’m sorry it was not good and I LOVE futuristic themes. Ugh ..

[Joshua Rubin · Rating 1 out of 5]

My God. I was at 3 stars halfway through the book. 2 stars halfway through the climax. 1 star halfway through the coda.

My mother said if you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all.

Ok, I can't help it.

One thing.

Not even the biggest thin, not by far.

If in one sentence, characters are in a car driving, you need to either have a following sentence that says "they got out and started walking" or a scene break or at least a new paragraph. But if in the next sentence they are getting rained on, it makes NO sense.

[Stefan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only thing that lifted the book to two stars was the fox. The action loses all hope of linearity, after doing 2 or 3 jumps across time, with no real value. No story finishes, although there is a great character development, when you get attached/empathise to either of the characters, it jumps to a different, really unrelated story. Has a vague concept of SF, but it is actually more like exploiting current technology with a twist.