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Virtually Dead
HIS FIRST LIFE IS A DISASTER2010, South California. Scottish-American crime-scene photographer Michael Kapinsky is a mess, six months on from the death of his wife.HIS SECOND LIFE IS A DISTRACTIONAs a means of coping, he is persuaded to enter the online virtual world of Second Life, to participate in a new kind of group therapy. NOW BOTH ARE IN DEADLY DANGEROnce there, he discovers a chilling connection between crime scenes he has attended in real life, and scenes depicted in the virtual world. And when he then uncovers a series of killings, and links them to a lucrative financial scam, Michael finds himself a marked man in both worlds.
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First published January 1, 2010
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February 12, 2026
What an odd little book.
I picked this up thinking it would just be a quick and easy read, good as a sort of noncommittal, non-serialised title that I could blast through whilst otherwise occupied in RL. I remember having read Peter May's first title in his 'Lewis Trilogy' (a trilogy now in four parts, lol) and recalled loving the cold, brooding, brutally weather-beaten setting that 'The Blackhouse' was set in. I still have the rest of the books in the series to read, but wanted to give 'Virtually Dead' a go, simply because it was a standalone and the premise of a world inhabited by netizens sounded curious and amusing.
This was absolutely nothing like 'The Blackhouse' - although May does refer to a property in SL as such, which I'm guessing was a little Easter egg for fans. (Same goes for 'The Chess Men' which he refers to when describing an outdoor chess set created for his protagonist's RL home.) To begin with, this book is set in sunny California, with lots of descriptions of the landscape, the coastline, the sunshiney weather and...I'm coming to realise that I seem to dislike books set in warmer climes, just as much as I dislike having to live in them IRL. My reverse SAD seems to kick in when reading about tropical climates, beach scenes and hot weather, such as it does when the actual weather here in Britain starts to heat up. I hate it. My cold, black, soul is crushed once the clocks go forward and I can no longer use my hot water-bottle, or wear my lovely, heavy, tailored, wool and cashmere coats. None of that is May's fault though, and I imagine I'm probably in the minority when feeling less enthused or connected to stories set in balmy locations. California also kind of gives me the "ick" too. I've never felt any desire to go there or read about it, despite it often being somewhere that many books and films are set.
Which probably got me and 'Virtually Dead' off to a pretty bad start.
I can't say that I really got to know much about the personality of our protagonist Michael - Mike - Kapinsky. We learn most of what we're ever going to know about him from the outset: fairly recently bereaved after the death of his wife, works as a crime scene photographer, is originally not from California but New England. Maybe it was an intentional move by May to allow Mike's online avatar in 'Second Life' - 'Chas' - to become somewhat more fleshed out...and perhaps that was his attempt to give a nod of respect to the people who, back in the early 2000s, created their own online avatars and immersed themselves in the online world of 'Second Life'.
I never really understood the appeal of SL. I heard about it when it started to get popular and I can remember the usual moral panic stuff that hit the news: lots of tales of people who had poured all of their time and money into this virtual existence, to the detriment of their RL relationships and responsibilities. I don't know how it would have necessarily appealed to people whose lives were already full and fulfilled with friends, loved ones, hobbies and an existence that wasn't merely a collection of pixels and chat-boxes. This story really only confirmed that to me, with the SL world being a weird domain populated by the kind of fake avatars created by people who were in no way as attractive, interesting or successful as their SL personas. Plus, the place is so utterly obsessed with sex, it felt like I'd wandered into some Reddit moderator's fantasy realm, where they could "virtually" experience all the things they were unable to access in RL.
Seriously. 'Rule 34' and 'Rule 35' are very much at play in SL, if this book is anything to go by. Whilst SL residents spend time building their online homes and decorating them, aside from the odd bunch of 'griefers' (who are just online vandals who want to attack, fight, destroy or steal stuff) pretty much everything that this story showed about SL is that the users are obsessed with sex. Because of this, a lot of 'Virtually Dead' is set in strip-clubs, whore-houses, swingers'-clubs, adult entertainment stores etc, with a ridiculous amount of focus being spent on bizarre things such as the purchasing and installing of a penis, which our main character Mike does with his avatar 'Chas', in an absurdly amusing scene with one of his online buddies.
Oh, wait. I'm supposed to be telling you about the story and reviewing that aren't I? Yeah, well that's kind of the problem, because the premise (whilst rather outdated and kind of hard to truly care about) is that murders in SL are mirroring murders in RL...so Mike and his coworker Janey (who has chosen to be a guy called 'Twist' in the SL world) have to figure out who is doing all this both in SL and RL, with some other issue over money being transferred to Mike's account, by the mob, who are then after him for blood, because it's their money and for some reason he used it to pay off the bank loan on a house that he's not going to keep anyway. I mean yeah, okay, whatever.
That's the story. However there are some decent moments of interaction between the characters, but even though there is very little RL communication going on between anyone, we're still able to see from quite early on, who the murderer likely is. So it feels like the murder-mystery/thriller plot was really just tacked on to a book actually designed to show the world how the inner workings of 'Second Life' actually operate. In case you hadn't guessed it by now, it's basically a virtual cornucopia of cybersex fantasies, where people seem to want to shed their RL physical bodies and create much more attractive avatars, which they then use to seek out whatever sex it is that they are sorely lacking in their actual RL existences.
If I'm honest, by the time I'd gotten to the 50% point in the book, I was starting to really not want to pick it up again. (But I hate having to DNF a book, especially when it shows some premise, and the pacing did actually begin to pick up shortly after the halfway point.) The RL story about murders needing to be solved was just sort of ticking along without much going on...except for one part where Mike gets kidnapped for 2 hours and given a mild beating by some mobsters who want their money back. This was obviously an attempt to raise the stakes somewhat, so that there would at least be some kind of RL storyline for readers to remain hooked into, but it just kept jumping back into SL, where you could almost sense the depressing smell of stale sweat and desperation of the lonely people in RL, clinging to the overly-beautified avatars created to catfish other residents into wanting to screw them.
We learn about the various techniques used to navigate SL, get lots of very descriptive paragraphs about these virtual worlds, and somewhere in among all of the she-male strip-shows, the sky-boxes where swingers can go and virtually shag other avatars (we didn't actually find out if the swingers were RL couples who used SL together to have virtual assignations, or if these 'spouse' relationships were also completely relegated to SL domain...but I'm going to guess that it was the latter, because nobody who is regularly getting laid in RL is going to want to spend that much time, creating an online married relationship, just to go to virtual swingers' clubs) we do get the bare bones of a murder-mystery that needs to be solved because of its implications in RL; but the whys, wherefores and what-the-actual-fucks of the reason behind ANY of it, are only revealed right at the denouement...and it's ridiculously contrived. It doesn't really make much sense to me why anyone would have gone to all that trouble both in SL and RL, but there is a small glimmer of humanity that comes into focus right at the end in the final scene, which I did like, and which sort of saved this from only being a 2 star rating for me.
Looking online to see if 'Second Life' is still going, it appears to have waned in popularity as we headed toward the end of the 2010s, only to have had some sort of upgrade in 2025 - and no, I have had zero desire to check it out for myself. In many ways, 'Second Life' is similar to MMORP games, but Linden Lab (yes, the creators of the game as described in the book are actually the company who created SL in RL!) is emphatic that their creation is not a game:
"There is no manufactured conflict, no set objective."
Even they're admitting that there is absolutely zero point to 'Second Life' outside of the ability to sink time and money into hiding behind attractive or creative avatars - ostensibly so that they can make their own set of pixels have cybersex with another resident's set of curated pixels, or spend far more time on the interior decoration of their SL houses than I imagine any of them do in their physical, RL abodes.
This book left me feeling grubby after I finished reading it. I hate it when there are unnecessary romance storylines included in crime-fiction thrillers where I expect to hear about clever - if batshit - murderers and the psychological reasoning behind their having decided to become a serial killer. I don't seek out smut (I would rather read another instalment of Norman Boutin's 'Empress Theresa' - IYKYK, lol - than delve into a romantasy title) because I don't need it. And maybe I'm being really harsh on those who do only ever get to engage with another person when it's in the form of an avatar in something like 'Second Life', or the sexually frustrated women who seem to need to get their fix via the pages of fairy smut books. I know we seem to be living in what others have termed a "loneliness epidemic" with Gen Z and Gen Alpha being less likely to form relationships, or even just go out on the pull to get laid on the weekend like previous generations did. Whether it's down to the economy, the strange mixture of political ideology simultaneously demanding that every sexual preference be respected - whilst also appearing to set the actual 2 sexes against one another - or this perpetually online world in which everyone only ever seems to feel as though they exist when interacting with a blue screen. Marriage rates are down and birth rates are down...and data collected from anonymously submitted questionnaires suggests that the forming of relationships is also down. Outside of the darkly clinical hook-up culture that was also borne out of the 'terminally online', it seems as though a lot of people out there aren't getting any action in their RL. That's really depressing.
If video killed the radio star, and irony killed sincerity, it was the internet that killed off a lot of real life opportunities for real, tangible, interpersonal connection. This book is 16 years old, but it seems to have almost foretold a time when it wasn't just the weirdo Reddit moderators, nerds and software techs (yes I'm aware that those three terms are somewhat interchangeable) who would end up needing to seek out interaction online. Fast-forward to today and people are carrying around little blue-screened computers in their pockets, which they are perpetually glued to, and through which they can film themselves in glorious 4K, getting up to whatever it is that these people get up to, with their online paramours. Unlimited connectivity has resulted in a paradoxical decrease in actual connection. I don't know if that will get any better anytime soon, but if everyone just started off by getting rid of their smartphones and opting for the old-tech Nokia phones like me & the other half did, it would at least help to make everyone return to a sense of actually being grounded in the world around them, whenever they were out and about, in town, in shops and in bars or restaurants.
Maybe we will never be able to put the genie back in the bottle, but the idea that something like 'Second Life' or whatever it is that the kids are doing these days, is the answer to loneliness and a worldwide sense of disconnect, is merely going to continue to exacerbate the problem. I might have been around when the world-wide-web was set live, and thanks to my parents - who were early adopters of the Internet - have lived through various eras of online fads and phases, but I've become intentionally less "connected" over time, because I much prefer being able to retreat to my real life sanctuary, where I'm not being fed a constant barrage of lurid headlines and unending ads, whilst feeling the creeping sense of unease that comes with knowing that you're always been watched, silently, by those who seek to use your data to sell whatever version of yourself they think you want, back to you.
'Virtually Dead' was on the face of it, sold to readers as a murder-mystery/thriller, set partially in the online world of 'Second Life', but what I actually found it to be was a depressing window into what a life spent entirely glued to a screen would look like. Murders might have been going on in RL as well as in SL, but they merely paled into insignificance alongside the limitless possibilities offered up to those seeking to escape reality entirely. Yes the murders were solved both in SL and RL, but it all felt very inconsequential. If anything 'Virtually Dead' felt like a tale of foreboding, presaging a world that we are likely far closer to inhabiting, than was initially thought back in 2010. And just as I always feel happier when I power down my laptop and "rezz" back into the physical realm, I also felt relieved to turn the final page of 'Virtually Dead'. I dithered a little between wanting to give this book 2 or 3 stars. I felt that it was pretty much a 2.5 out of 5, but with Goodreads forever refusing to allow us to use half-stars in our reviews (I mean, you gotta at least appreciate this site's dedication to never updating or upgrading itself to a newer, shinier, more modernised kind of interface, lol) I felt it wouldn't have been right to only give 'Virtually Dead' 2 stars, so I'm settling on a 3 star rating, based on everything I've just typed out in this review.
Should you read 'Virtually Dead' for yourself? I don't know really. Maybe if you're like me and you can remember all the way back to the earliest iterations of online communities, you might find it interesting as a kind of time-capsule frozen in virtual amber, that show us what was considered the cutting edge of online spaces a couple of decades ago. If you're looking for a crime-fiction thriller with a technologically exotic component, that spends more time in SL than RL, it might be worth a punt. But for me I'm going to return to Peter May's 'Lewis' books, where I can hopefully feel more connected to the windswept coastal fishing villages and dark, brooding mood evoked by a realistic understanding of what it means to live on an island and be forever at the mercy of the weather.
"Reject modernity; return to monke."
I picked this up thinking it would just be a quick and easy read, good as a sort of noncommittal, non-serialised title that I could blast through whilst otherwise occupied in RL. I remember having read Peter May's first title in his 'Lewis Trilogy' (a trilogy now in four parts, lol) and recalled loving the cold, brooding, brutally weather-beaten setting that 'The Blackhouse' was set in. I still have the rest of the books in the series to read, but wanted to give 'Virtually Dead' a go, simply because it was a standalone and the premise of a world inhabited by netizens sounded curious and amusing.
This was absolutely nothing like 'The Blackhouse' - although May does refer to a property in SL as such, which I'm guessing was a little Easter egg for fans. (Same goes for 'The Chess Men' which he refers to when describing an outdoor chess set created for his protagonist's RL home.) To begin with, this book is set in sunny California, with lots of descriptions of the landscape, the coastline, the sunshiney weather and...I'm coming to realise that I seem to dislike books set in warmer climes, just as much as I dislike having to live in them IRL. My reverse SAD seems to kick in when reading about tropical climates, beach scenes and hot weather, such as it does when the actual weather here in Britain starts to heat up. I hate it. My cold, black, soul is crushed once the clocks go forward and I can no longer use my hot water-bottle, or wear my lovely, heavy, tailored, wool and cashmere coats. None of that is May's fault though, and I imagine I'm probably in the minority when feeling less enthused or connected to stories set in balmy locations. California also kind of gives me the "ick" too. I've never felt any desire to go there or read about it, despite it often being somewhere that many books and films are set.
Which probably got me and 'Virtually Dead' off to a pretty bad start.
I can't say that I really got to know much about the personality of our protagonist Michael - Mike - Kapinsky. We learn most of what we're ever going to know about him from the outset: fairly recently bereaved after the death of his wife, works as a crime scene photographer, is originally not from California but New England. Maybe it was an intentional move by May to allow Mike's online avatar in 'Second Life' - 'Chas' - to become somewhat more fleshed out...and perhaps that was his attempt to give a nod of respect to the people who, back in the early 2000s, created their own online avatars and immersed themselves in the online world of 'Second Life'.
I never really understood the appeal of SL. I heard about it when it started to get popular and I can remember the usual moral panic stuff that hit the news: lots of tales of people who had poured all of their time and money into this virtual existence, to the detriment of their RL relationships and responsibilities. I don't know how it would have necessarily appealed to people whose lives were already full and fulfilled with friends, loved ones, hobbies and an existence that wasn't merely a collection of pixels and chat-boxes. This story really only confirmed that to me, with the SL world being a weird domain populated by the kind of fake avatars created by people who were in no way as attractive, interesting or successful as their SL personas. Plus, the place is so utterly obsessed with sex, it felt like I'd wandered into some Reddit moderator's fantasy realm, where they could "virtually" experience all the things they were unable to access in RL.
Seriously. 'Rule 34' and 'Rule 35' are very much at play in SL, if this book is anything to go by. Whilst SL residents spend time building their online homes and decorating them, aside from the odd bunch of 'griefers' (who are just online vandals who want to attack, fight, destroy or steal stuff) pretty much everything that this story showed about SL is that the users are obsessed with sex. Because of this, a lot of 'Virtually Dead' is set in strip-clubs, whore-houses, swingers'-clubs, adult entertainment stores etc, with a ridiculous amount of focus being spent on bizarre things such as the purchasing and installing of a penis, which our main character Mike does with his avatar 'Chas', in an absurdly amusing scene with one of his online buddies.
Oh, wait. I'm supposed to be telling you about the story and reviewing that aren't I? Yeah, well that's kind of the problem, because the premise (whilst rather outdated and kind of hard to truly care about) is that murders in SL are mirroring murders in RL...so Mike and his coworker Janey (who has chosen to be a guy called 'Twist' in the SL world) have to figure out who is doing all this both in SL and RL, with some other issue over money being transferred to Mike's account, by the mob, who are then after him for blood, because it's their money and for some reason he used it to pay off the bank loan on a house that he's not going to keep anyway. I mean yeah, okay, whatever.
That's the story. However there are some decent moments of interaction between the characters, but even though there is very little RL communication going on between anyone, we're still able to see from quite early on, who the murderer likely is. So it feels like the murder-mystery/thriller plot was really just tacked on to a book actually designed to show the world how the inner workings of 'Second Life' actually operate. In case you hadn't guessed it by now, it's basically a virtual cornucopia of cybersex fantasies, where people seem to want to shed their RL physical bodies and create much more attractive avatars, which they then use to seek out whatever sex it is that they are sorely lacking in their actual RL existences.
If I'm honest, by the time I'd gotten to the 50% point in the book, I was starting to really not want to pick it up again. (But I hate having to DNF a book, especially when it shows some premise, and the pacing did actually begin to pick up shortly after the halfway point.) The RL story about murders needing to be solved was just sort of ticking along without much going on...except for one part where Mike gets kidnapped for 2 hours and given a mild beating by some mobsters who want their money back. This was obviously an attempt to raise the stakes somewhat, so that there would at least be some kind of RL storyline for readers to remain hooked into, but it just kept jumping back into SL, where you could almost sense the depressing smell of stale sweat and desperation of the lonely people in RL, clinging to the overly-beautified avatars created to catfish other residents into wanting to screw them.
We learn about the various techniques used to navigate SL, get lots of very descriptive paragraphs about these virtual worlds, and somewhere in among all of the she-male strip-shows, the sky-boxes where swingers can go and virtually shag other avatars (we didn't actually find out if the swingers were RL couples who used SL together to have virtual assignations, or if these 'spouse' relationships were also completely relegated to SL domain...but I'm going to guess that it was the latter, because nobody who is regularly getting laid in RL is going to want to spend that much time, creating an online married relationship, just to go to virtual swingers' clubs) we do get the bare bones of a murder-mystery that needs to be solved because of its implications in RL; but the whys, wherefores and what-the-actual-fucks of the reason behind ANY of it, are only revealed right at the denouement...and it's ridiculously contrived. It doesn't really make much sense to me why anyone would have gone to all that trouble both in SL and RL, but there is a small glimmer of humanity that comes into focus right at the end in the final scene, which I did like, and which sort of saved this from only being a 2 star rating for me.
Looking online to see if 'Second Life' is still going, it appears to have waned in popularity as we headed toward the end of the 2010s, only to have had some sort of upgrade in 2025 - and no, I have had zero desire to check it out for myself. In many ways, 'Second Life' is similar to MMORP games, but Linden Lab (yes, the creators of the game as described in the book are actually the company who created SL in RL!) is emphatic that their creation is not a game:
"There is no manufactured conflict, no set objective."
Even they're admitting that there is absolutely zero point to 'Second Life' outside of the ability to sink time and money into hiding behind attractive or creative avatars - ostensibly so that they can make their own set of pixels have cybersex with another resident's set of curated pixels, or spend far more time on the interior decoration of their SL houses than I imagine any of them do in their physical, RL abodes.
This book left me feeling grubby after I finished reading it. I hate it when there are unnecessary romance storylines included in crime-fiction thrillers where I expect to hear about clever - if batshit - murderers and the psychological reasoning behind their having decided to become a serial killer. I don't seek out smut (I would rather read another instalment of Norman Boutin's 'Empress Theresa' - IYKYK, lol - than delve into a romantasy title) because I don't need it. And maybe I'm being really harsh on those who do only ever get to engage with another person when it's in the form of an avatar in something like 'Second Life', or the sexually frustrated women who seem to need to get their fix via the pages of fairy smut books. I know we seem to be living in what others have termed a "loneliness epidemic" with Gen Z and Gen Alpha being less likely to form relationships, or even just go out on the pull to get laid on the weekend like previous generations did. Whether it's down to the economy, the strange mixture of political ideology simultaneously demanding that every sexual preference be respected - whilst also appearing to set the actual 2 sexes against one another - or this perpetually online world in which everyone only ever seems to feel as though they exist when interacting with a blue screen. Marriage rates are down and birth rates are down...and data collected from anonymously submitted questionnaires suggests that the forming of relationships is also down. Outside of the darkly clinical hook-up culture that was also borne out of the 'terminally online', it seems as though a lot of people out there aren't getting any action in their RL. That's really depressing.
If video killed the radio star, and irony killed sincerity, it was the internet that killed off a lot of real life opportunities for real, tangible, interpersonal connection. This book is 16 years old, but it seems to have almost foretold a time when it wasn't just the weirdo Reddit moderators, nerds and software techs (yes I'm aware that those three terms are somewhat interchangeable) who would end up needing to seek out interaction online. Fast-forward to today and people are carrying around little blue-screened computers in their pockets, which they are perpetually glued to, and through which they can film themselves in glorious 4K, getting up to whatever it is that these people get up to, with their online paramours. Unlimited connectivity has resulted in a paradoxical decrease in actual connection. I don't know if that will get any better anytime soon, but if everyone just started off by getting rid of their smartphones and opting for the old-tech Nokia phones like me & the other half did, it would at least help to make everyone return to a sense of actually being grounded in the world around them, whenever they were out and about, in town, in shops and in bars or restaurants.
Maybe we will never be able to put the genie back in the bottle, but the idea that something like 'Second Life' or whatever it is that the kids are doing these days, is the answer to loneliness and a worldwide sense of disconnect, is merely going to continue to exacerbate the problem. I might have been around when the world-wide-web was set live, and thanks to my parents - who were early adopters of the Internet - have lived through various eras of online fads and phases, but I've become intentionally less "connected" over time, because I much prefer being able to retreat to my real life sanctuary, where I'm not being fed a constant barrage of lurid headlines and unending ads, whilst feeling the creeping sense of unease that comes with knowing that you're always been watched, silently, by those who seek to use your data to sell whatever version of yourself they think you want, back to you.
'Virtually Dead' was on the face of it, sold to readers as a murder-mystery/thriller, set partially in the online world of 'Second Life', but what I actually found it to be was a depressing window into what a life spent entirely glued to a screen would look like. Murders might have been going on in RL as well as in SL, but they merely paled into insignificance alongside the limitless possibilities offered up to those seeking to escape reality entirely. Yes the murders were solved both in SL and RL, but it all felt very inconsequential. If anything 'Virtually Dead' felt like a tale of foreboding, presaging a world that we are likely far closer to inhabiting, than was initially thought back in 2010. And just as I always feel happier when I power down my laptop and "rezz" back into the physical realm, I also felt relieved to turn the final page of 'Virtually Dead'. I dithered a little between wanting to give this book 2 or 3 stars. I felt that it was pretty much a 2.5 out of 5, but with Goodreads forever refusing to allow us to use half-stars in our reviews (I mean, you gotta at least appreciate this site's dedication to never updating or upgrading itself to a newer, shinier, more modernised kind of interface, lol) I felt it wouldn't have been right to only give 'Virtually Dead' 2 stars, so I'm settling on a 3 star rating, based on everything I've just typed out in this review.
Should you read 'Virtually Dead' for yourself? I don't know really. Maybe if you're like me and you can remember all the way back to the earliest iterations of online communities, you might find it interesting as a kind of time-capsule frozen in virtual amber, that show us what was considered the cutting edge of online spaces a couple of decades ago. If you're looking for a crime-fiction thriller with a technologically exotic component, that spends more time in SL than RL, it might be worth a punt. But for me I'm going to return to Peter May's 'Lewis' books, where I can hopefully feel more connected to the windswept coastal fishing villages and dark, brooding mood evoked by a realistic understanding of what it means to live on an island and be forever at the mercy of the weather.
"Reject modernity; return to monke."
March 24, 2010
hard time taking an objective stance on "Virtualy Dead," a new stand-alone mystery by Peter May.
May is better known for his two popular mystery series: China Thrillers and the Enzo Files. He is obviously drawn to exotic locations for his material. In China Thrillers his protaganist is an American forensic pathologist called in to assist the Beijing police. In the Enzo files Toulous, France is the backdrop for a Scottish biologist with forensic experience.
In "Virtualy Dead" May moves into the equally exotic terrain of Second Life, a virtual world currently "inhabited" by millions of people who take on the guise of animated characters (avatars).
His main character, Mike Kapinsky, ventures into Second Life at the urging of a therapist who has been treating him for the overwhelming grief he experiences following the death of his wife. The therapist has formed an experimental therapy group in Second Life.
But Kapinsky - Chas Chesnokov in SL - also finds himself lured into partnering with a "real life" coworker in an SL detective agency, and quickly becomes embroiled with a series of murders with apparent links between SL and real life victims.
It's a quick read with some good action in both the real and virtual worlds, as well as a rather steamy romance between Chas and a female avatar.
I particularly enjoyed it because I have been a "resident" of Second Life for more than two years. The Olathe Public Library actually has a project underway in this virtual world. We will soon be launching a web page from the library web site with more information about the OPL in SL project.
May has been quite the celebrity in SL library and book publishing circles of late. To research his subject he opened his own detective agency in SL in 2007, and he remains an active resident under the avatar name of Flick Faulds.
Do you have to be familiar with Second Life to appreciate this mystery? I don't think so, but I would certainly enjoy hearing what others have to say on the subject. "Virtually Dead" has been well received by the critics, so perhaps experience with virtual worlds isn't key.
At any rate, I enjoyed this romp between the real and the virtual and would certainly recommend it to those with even a passing interest in computer gaming.
Virtually Dead
For those with an interest, "Virtually Dead" will be the topic of a book discussion at Mystery Manor in Second Life at 9 p.m. April 8. For more information contact Lorie Hyten at OPL at (913) 971-6887.
May is better known for his two popular mystery series: China Thrillers and the Enzo Files. He is obviously drawn to exotic locations for his material. In China Thrillers his protaganist is an American forensic pathologist called in to assist the Beijing police. In the Enzo files Toulous, France is the backdrop for a Scottish biologist with forensic experience.
In "Virtualy Dead" May moves into the equally exotic terrain of Second Life, a virtual world currently "inhabited" by millions of people who take on the guise of animated characters (avatars).
His main character, Mike Kapinsky, ventures into Second Life at the urging of a therapist who has been treating him for the overwhelming grief he experiences following the death of his wife. The therapist has formed an experimental therapy group in Second Life.
But Kapinsky - Chas Chesnokov in SL - also finds himself lured into partnering with a "real life" coworker in an SL detective agency, and quickly becomes embroiled with a series of murders with apparent links between SL and real life victims.
It's a quick read with some good action in both the real and virtual worlds, as well as a rather steamy romance between Chas and a female avatar.
I particularly enjoyed it because I have been a "resident" of Second Life for more than two years. The Olathe Public Library actually has a project underway in this virtual world. We will soon be launching a web page from the library web site with more information about the OPL in SL project.
May has been quite the celebrity in SL library and book publishing circles of late. To research his subject he opened his own detective agency in SL in 2007, and he remains an active resident under the avatar name of Flick Faulds.
Do you have to be familiar with Second Life to appreciate this mystery? I don't think so, but I would certainly enjoy hearing what others have to say on the subject. "Virtually Dead" has been well received by the critics, so perhaps experience with virtual worlds isn't key.
At any rate, I enjoyed this romp between the real and the virtual and would certainly recommend it to those with even a passing interest in computer gaming.
Virtually Dead
For those with an interest, "Virtually Dead" will be the topic of a book discussion at Mystery Manor in Second Life at 9 p.m. April 8. For more information contact Lorie Hyten at OPL at (913) 971-6887.
May 8, 2013
Unless you are familiar with Second Life, much of the impact of this book will probably be lost. That said, it is an enjoyable romp through some of the vicissitudes of that Virtual World, and intriguingly combines the real and the pixel existence. There is the thrill of the chase, the mystery of who did what, lots of tension; but above all, the last few pages summed up so much of what underlies Second Life : imagination, creativity, deception. Its a good and likeable yarn, probably best appreciated by those who have immersed themselves in the pixel universe. Plausible, but improbable.
January 13, 2019
Interesting but a little dated due to the fact that 2nd life is no longer a thing. makes one wonder what did in fact happen to all the money in 2nd life in real life.
February 16, 2023
I usually like Peter May. All his books I've read before were fantastic, gloomy and very exiting. But this, this didn't live up to expectations.
I think it's a good concept. I like the twists. But the elaborations on Second Life was a bit too much to take. I've never played SL but I've heard a lot about it. Pornhub for cyber psychos would be the right word for the world created around Michael in this book. Some parts felt very tiring and draggy. Even Michael's grief seemed tiresome. And it was very predictable. From the first session I knew the therapist was upto no good.
Too plain for my taste.
Book #08 of 2023.
Peter May - Book#04
I think it's a good concept. I like the twists. But the elaborations on Second Life was a bit too much to take. I've never played SL but I've heard a lot about it. Pornhub for cyber psychos would be the right word for the world created around Michael in this book. Some parts felt very tiring and draggy. Even Michael's grief seemed tiresome. And it was very predictable. From the first session I knew the therapist was upto no good.
Too plain for my taste.
Book #08 of 2023.
Peter May - Book#04
February 7, 2016
Ah, Virtually Dead – what a wonderful find in the university second hand book store.
As a massive fan of Peter May, I was more than happy to pick up Virtually Dead. It is one of his older books, one of his overlooked pieces of work. When people think of Peter May, they think of the Lewis trilogy followed closely by his Enzo Files and China thrillers. I doubt anyone thinks of this little gem.
I’ll admit, it is not my favourite Peter May book. I fell in love with his work due to his Lewis trilogy, and as it stands he has yet to write a book that I enjoyed more than the first in the series. The book blew me away. I loved it. Nevertheless, Virtually Dead was an extremely interesting read. I was more than happy to sit down and consume it in one sitting.
It is something completely different to what I’m accustomed to reading by the male, and that only works to make it more enjoyable. Rather than dealing with the crime being committed in real life, we also have the mystery occurring on the web. Whilst I have never being in the Second Life virtual world, Peter May brought it to life for me (hell, I’m tempted to give it a try now).
With his usual interesting characters, Peter May walks us through the mystery both in real life and in the virtual world. As with quite a few of his older reads, the answer to the mystery was predictable – but this did not stop me from enjoying the read. It was fun to work in a different world to what I’m used to.
Overall, it was something slightly different and I adored it.
As a massive fan of Peter May, I was more than happy to pick up Virtually Dead. It is one of his older books, one of his overlooked pieces of work. When people think of Peter May, they think of the Lewis trilogy followed closely by his Enzo Files and China thrillers. I doubt anyone thinks of this little gem.
I’ll admit, it is not my favourite Peter May book. I fell in love with his work due to his Lewis trilogy, and as it stands he has yet to write a book that I enjoyed more than the first in the series. The book blew me away. I loved it. Nevertheless, Virtually Dead was an extremely interesting read. I was more than happy to sit down and consume it in one sitting.
It is something completely different to what I’m accustomed to reading by the male, and that only works to make it more enjoyable. Rather than dealing with the crime being committed in real life, we also have the mystery occurring on the web. Whilst I have never being in the Second Life virtual world, Peter May brought it to life for me (hell, I’m tempted to give it a try now).
With his usual interesting characters, Peter May walks us through the mystery both in real life and in the virtual world. As with quite a few of his older reads, the answer to the mystery was predictable – but this did not stop me from enjoying the read. It was fun to work in a different world to what I’m used to.
Overall, it was something slightly different and I adored it.
June 12, 2016
Virtually Dead by Peter May
Michael Kapinsky, a crime scene photographer with lots of problems joins an on-line community at the request of his psychologist. While wandering around in “Second Life,” he finds a “friend” from his real life is there as well. He becomes accustomed to the oddities of second life, but things get complicated when avatars killed in second life start showing up as dead people in real life. Michael’s real life continues to get more and more complicated as the investigation bounces from real life to second life and back again. This book has all the elements of a good thriller – money, murder, sex, and organized crime, both in the real world and in the virtual second life world.
Fun fact:Peter May gives a shout out to one of his other books, "The Blackhouse" by using that as one of the locations in the virtual Second Life world.
Michael Kapinsky, a crime scene photographer with lots of problems joins an on-line community at the request of his psychologist. While wandering around in “Second Life,” he finds a “friend” from his real life is there as well. He becomes accustomed to the oddities of second life, but things get complicated when avatars killed in second life start showing up as dead people in real life. Michael’s real life continues to get more and more complicated as the investigation bounces from real life to second life and back again. This book has all the elements of a good thriller – money, murder, sex, and organized crime, both in the real world and in the virtual second life world.
Fun fact:Peter May gives a shout out to one of his other books, "The Blackhouse" by using that as one of the locations in the virtual Second Life world.
May 19, 2021
Was this the same Peter May who wrote The Blackhouse? (Which name, incidentally, has a cameo appearance in this story.) The mystery and the protagonist’s dilemma were appropriately tense and suspenseful, but the writing was … well. The author seems to have been entranced by the concept of virtual reality / simulation gaming, and he spends a lot of time explaining the mechanics and possibilities. Maybe his non-computer-literate audience might need some explanations, but the novel was published in 2010, twenty-one years after the introduction of The Sims and who knows how many multi-user sandbox games. He gives us loving descriptions of imaginary landscapes, architecture, furniture and clothing, not to mention penises. Let’s not forget the penises. Tell me, if sex is depicted in a cartoon, is it still porn? And if it is, what is Mr. May doing writing porn?
I guess the author was trying something in a new-ish genre, and had to break his own trail. And the story kept me reading right to the end, wanting to find out how the problems were resolved. (Eh. Maybe something was lacking.) But I definitely prefer his mysteries set in the real world.
I guess the author was trying something in a new-ish genre, and had to break his own trail. And the story kept me reading right to the end, wanting to find out how the problems were resolved. (Eh. Maybe something was lacking.) But I definitely prefer his mysteries set in the real world.
March 6, 2019
Yet another Peter May book that I must admit to really enjoying, despite not being sure why. I wanted to read this because it’s set in Newport Beach, CA. As usual, May doesn’t disappoint with his depiction of place. However, this book is also “set” in a simulated computer game, which was kind of dorky to be reading about. (I’m told the technology has also changed a lot since May wrote this ~20 years ago.) So I felt silly reading dialogue that was happening in a computer game—but as usual, the main character becomes extremely relatable and even endearing, which really pulled me in. As it happens, the main character is grieving the loss of his wife, and this is a big aspect of the story. I also really liked the ending—perhaps more than any other Peter May mystery I’ve read.
January 1, 2014
My heart is still hammering! Stayed up to 1 am to finish and then couldn't sleep. I like this book so much because I'm familiar with Second Life and I can relate to a lot of it on that level (by alternately going, "Oh, yeah - that's sooo SL!" and "You Can't Do That!"). It's as exciting as seeing your home town featured in a book. It's like going to see "Ghostbusters" while living in Manhattan and watching some of the filming. My SL quibbles are all minor. There's not enough bad spelling in the chat dialogue (which I always think adds to the fun if not the realism - but I can see why you don't want to put out a book full of typos), if any. There was some lipservice paid to the abominable English perpetrated by otherwise very clever builders and scripters, but it just doesn't give the savor of the Real SL experience - "LOL" - that I find so delightful and that I, too, mine for humor.
So now I have to pull myself back and look at it as a "thriller" (because apparently women write mysteries but men write thrillers). It certainly has all the elements:
betrayal - check!
false identities - check!
switchbacks -check!
"dead herrings" [personal in-joke:] - ... umm, check!
transgenders - check!
and cybersex - wowza!
(okay, that last one wasn't typical thriller material). The protagonist definitely has his share of agony: emotional, personal, financial, and professional. (On top of it all, his co-workers have a sick, sick, sick sense of humor.)
May was also forced to use the rather hackneyed Villain Monologizes To Explain What Happened, but that's a tough one to get around. The chase scenes inside SL and Michael's struggles outside were exciting, the Villain's Master Plan was needlessly but delightfully convoluted, and the ending was sweet.
In short, it was good enough that I wish there was more of it, and, good thing my therapist doesn't make me walk through pools of blood!
So now I have to pull myself back and look at it as a "thriller" (because apparently women write mysteries but men write thrillers). It certainly has all the elements:
betrayal - check!
false identities - check!
switchbacks -check!
"dead herrings" [personal in-joke:] - ... umm, check!
transgenders - check!
and cybersex - wowza!
(okay, that last one wasn't typical thriller material). The protagonist definitely has his share of agony: emotional, personal, financial, and professional. (On top of it all, his co-workers have a sick, sick, sick sense of humor.)
May was also forced to use the rather hackneyed Villain Monologizes To Explain What Happened, but that's a tough one to get around. The chase scenes inside SL and Michael's struggles outside were exciting, the Villain's Master Plan was needlessly but delightfully convoluted, and the ending was sweet.
In short, it was good enough that I wish there was more of it, and, good thing my therapist doesn't make me walk through pools of blood!
December 29, 2010
As much as I loved the plot idea, murders in second life simultaneously occurring in real life, I found the characters lacked depth and the premise just didn't hold up. By the end of the novel it is pretty clear who's responsible for the murders. I wish I liked it more, I wanted to like it more.
September 23, 2012
Listened to the audiobook and I was disappointed - the reader sounded clunky at times and this detracted from the plot. Descriptions of virtual action didn't grab me but I notice others liked it more, maybe it's better in written form ...
June 17, 2017
Enjoyed this virtual second life mystery/thriller.
March 11, 2020
So this one was a 2010 book by Peter May that I had never heard of and discovered it a few weeks ago whilst browsing. This one features Michael Kapinsky who is a crime scene photographer and has not yet come to terms with the death of his wife who was a very wealthy person.
His therapist invites him to join her in Second Life in an experimental therapy and this is his first ever involvement with it as it is mine. Thus we have two very linked stories playing out across Real Life and Second Life and I think the author did a great job with this.
Several murders occur in real life and part of the investigation takes place in Second Life. I may not be doing a good job of describing this but it was a very interesting book with a continually moving plot and some interesting goings on in Second Life.
I don't think I'll be signing up anytime soon but it did pique my interest a bit.
So a thumbs up from me for this one.
His therapist invites him to join her in Second Life in an experimental therapy and this is his first ever involvement with it as it is mine. Thus we have two very linked stories playing out across Real Life and Second Life and I think the author did a great job with this.
Several murders occur in real life and part of the investigation takes place in Second Life. I may not be doing a good job of describing this but it was a very interesting book with a continually moving plot and some interesting goings on in Second Life.
I don't think I'll be signing up anytime soon but it did pique my interest a bit.
So a thumbs up from me for this one.
August 15, 2021
J’ai beaucoup apprécié l’univers particulier de ce roman, cela m’a intriguée dès le départ et m’a donné envie de comprendre comment les crimes avaient pu être possibles. L’univers virtuel est bien rendu et le personnage principal plonge complètement dedans, j’ai aimé ce dédoublement. J’ai quand même moins accroché aux personnages eux-mêmes, puis peu à peu j’ai trouvé l’univers virtuel trop répétitif et l’enquête un peu trop longue et sans rien de particulier.
August 14, 2024
Very different book for my new favorite author. Usually you get a very in-depth introduction to a land, the Hebrides, China, wine country. So in a way this is the same. Only it’s the virtual world that you are introduced to. One part of you wants to find something similar and another part says Hell to the Naw!!! It also lets you know that no matter where you are greed, a rice and evil will follow.
September 24, 2025
As a die-hard Peter May fan, this book was a revelation! His subject matter was so different to his later books, yet also so enjoyable. I was rooting for the characters and was upset when one didn't make it. So glad I searched the Internet for this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 15, 2018
Easy read and kept me engaged. Creative idea incorporating Second Life into a mystery.
July 25, 2018
Not his best effort. Mostly due to how dated he envisions a virtual interface.
February 20, 2019
A disappointment.
May 3, 2019
Did not enjoy this one much. A little too far-fetched for me. A disappointment!
Read
July 11, 2019Not for me. Gave up after 50 pages
Read
May 8, 2020Audiobook. A great page-turner.
October 30, 2020
So very dated at only ten years old. A real life CSI investigates murders in a Sim-like world. Absurd premise.
May 12, 2021
Not his best book I have to say! The writting is all right but the plot is not really subtil and the entire atmosphere of murder virtual life left me rather cold. Just did not worked for me!
November 3, 2021
a bit second guessable but fun
November 26, 2021
I love Peter May's writing and story telling. The novel is a flavor too strong of sci-fi and the sentences are dead, boring statements. No joy.
September 7, 2023
The virtual dimension really made this book fantastic. Great thriller and great mystery!
Read
November 10, 2023I got as far as the virtual reality section and it board my ass, so I quit this book.
February 20, 2024
Too bizarre. To finish
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