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Division Zero #6
The Shadow Fixer
Kirsten Wren’s job has gone back to normal—ghosts are killing people again.
After twenty-three rough years, Fate seems to be giving her a break. Her adopted son is happy. The new—well, first—boyfriend is doing everything right… and she hasn’t seen a single demon in a few months. In 2419, West City is a violent place filled with poverty, overcrowding, and augmented cyber-gangs. No surprise vengeful spirits are everywhere.
Compared to creatures of the Abyss, however, angry ghosts are like old friends.
An unusual spike in hostile manifestations suggests something out there is stirring up spirits. Initially benign events rapidly become deadly. As the only Astral Sensitive the National Police Force has on the West Coast, Kirsten might be in over her head.
The incidents continue at an overwhelming pace. Responding to so many hauntings leaves little time to find the cause of the ghosts’ agitation, but if she doesn’t do something soon… the city will descend into spectral chaos.
After twenty-three rough years, Fate seems to be giving her a break. Her adopted son is happy. The new—well, first—boyfriend is doing everything right… and she hasn’t seen a single demon in a few months. In 2419, West City is a violent place filled with poverty, overcrowding, and augmented cyber-gangs. No surprise vengeful spirits are everywhere.
Compared to creatures of the Abyss, however, angry ghosts are like old friends.
An unusual spike in hostile manifestations suggests something out there is stirring up spirits. Initially benign events rapidly become deadly. As the only Astral Sensitive the National Police Force has on the West Coast, Kirsten might be in over her head.
The incidents continue at an overwhelming pace. Responding to so many hauntings leaves little time to find the cause of the ghosts’ agitation, but if she doesn’t do something soon… the city will descend into spectral chaos.
418 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 21, 2020
5 people are currently reading
8 people want to read
About the author
Matthew S. Cox
194 books266 followersBorn in a little town known as South Amboy NJ in 1973, Matthew has been creating science fiction and fantasy worlds for most of his reasoning life. Somewhere between fifteen to eighteen of them spent developing the world in which Division Zero, Virtual Immortality, and The Awakened Series take place. He has several other projects in the works as well as a collaborative science fiction endeavor with author Tony Healey.
Hobbies and Interests:
Matthew is an avid gamer, a recovered WoW addict, Gamemaster for two custom systems (Chronicles of Eldrinaath [Fantasy] and Divergent Fates [Sci Fi], and a fan of anime, British humour (<- deliberate), and intellectual science fiction that questions the nature of reality, life, and what happens after it.
He is also fond of cats.
Hobbies and Interests:
Matthew is an avid gamer, a recovered WoW addict, Gamemaster for two custom systems (Chronicles of Eldrinaath [Fantasy] and Divergent Fates [Sci Fi], and a fan of anime, British humour (<- deliberate), and intellectual science fiction that questions the nature of reality, life, and what happens after it.
He is also fond of cats.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 6, 2022
Things are never what one would consider 'normal' for Kirsten Wren. Working for Division 0 and having psionic powers have people either making fun and mocking her for believing in ghosts and things that aren't normally seen or there are others who fear her because they believe psionics are to be feared.
However, Kirsten's workload has seemed to double if not triple! Ghosts seem to be going crazy lately. Many complaining about the noise disrupting them and others that seem to be in a state of rage. But once they are whipped with her lash they seem to snap out of their rage episode, but still leave her with her with more questions than answers.
Once again for answers Kirsten finds herself going back to the Beneath to confront the person responsible for pushing the ghosts into a rage.
The Shadow Fixer is probably my favorite I've read in Division Zero series now. I really liked all the action and humor that the author incorporated. I will say Matthew Cox also has me questioning and wondering how it is that the other suggestive was able to work his powers over a spirit. That's not something we've seen done yet. Is this something maybe Kirsten would be able to do as well if she really worked at it. It also leaves a reader questioning had Kirsten not gone within the NPF route and was left to survive on the streets or the Beneath and without training would her suggestive powers maybe developed to work on ghosts as well?
However, Kirsten's workload has seemed to double if not triple! Ghosts seem to be going crazy lately. Many complaining about the noise disrupting them and others that seem to be in a state of rage. But once they are whipped with her lash they seem to snap out of their rage episode, but still leave her with her with more questions than answers.
Once again for answers Kirsten finds herself going back to the Beneath to confront the person responsible for pushing the ghosts into a rage.
The Shadow Fixer is probably my favorite I've read in Division Zero series now. I really liked all the action and humor that the author incorporated. I will say Matthew Cox also has me questioning and wondering how it is that the other suggestive was able to work his powers over a spirit. That's not something we've seen done yet. Is this something maybe Kirsten would be able to do as well if she really worked at it. It also leaves a reader questioning had Kirsten not gone within the NPF route and was left to survive on the streets or the Beneath and without training would her suggestive powers maybe developed to work on ghosts as well?
July 1, 2022
Cox merges science-fiction, the supernatural, and classic detective drama to produce a story where each enhances the others.
This is the sixth volume of Cox’s Division Zero series. Spoilers for previous books might leap out, rise up, or otherwise manifest after this point.
After fighting creatures of the Abyss, reports of ghostly property damage and invisible fumblings feel almost like a rest for Kirsten Wren. However, as the manifestations start occurring faster than she can finish the reports for the previous ones and some turn deadly, she must find the underlying reason before the city is overrun.
As with previous volumes, Cox skilfully blends police procedural, cyberpunk, psionics, ghosts, and ongoing personal plots. While Kristen’s powers and technology do give her certain advantages, as the only person on the force able to see ghosts—and one of the few to believe in them—she is both barraged with reports of every possible supernatural event and faced with disbelief when she attempts to resolve them.
However, Cox does not rely on the flashy aspects of his world: at its core the plot is driven by the ubiquitous detective methods of looking for patterns in evidence and playing hunches.
In parallel with Kirsten’s struggle to balance attending new incidents and devoting time to investigating for root causes, her happy home life becomes another potential obstacle: looking after any preteen boy takes work, let alone one with psychic powers, and romance requires at least some romancing. Having only her own terrible upbringing to show her how parenthood shouldn’t be, and only a mind-controlling cultist ex to show her how loving relationships aren’t, Kirsten continues to agonise over the ordinary. As well as providing a contrast to the grittiness of psionic policing in a techo-dystopia, it offers a pleasing change from the brilliant but anti-social loner with an unhealthy lifestyle trope that often features in detective dramas.
As testimony to the depth of Cox’s world-building, despite being six books into the series, the supernatural aspects of plot retain a sense disturbing uncertainty while also feeling consistent and explicable in hindsight.
While the plot is filled with investigation and supernatural creepiness, Cox does not sell the cyberpunk aspects short. There is plenty of fast-paced action with even driving across the city on a routine journey liable to be dialled up to eleven and lit in neons.
Befitting a detective story featuring happy home life, the thread of humour that Cox inserts into all his books centres around the slightly off-colour banter of police officers and the slapstick of child-raising.
Kirsten remains a highly sympathetic protagonist, torn between her inclination to save people, her desire to stay alive for Evan, and her awareness that she does need to rest eventually. In addition to the existing worries her job brings, Cox implies an unconscious concern that—as Evan can also see ghosts and is only a few years younger than police cadets—if she fails to stay on top of things, he might be “strongly persuaded” to volunteer for active duty.
Evan—while not a point-of-view character as he was in Book 5—remains a strong and engaging presence, offering the reader a different but equally realistic perspective to Kristen’s on how an abused child might react to a better life.
The supporting cast, both returning and new, are nuanced and varied, providing a strong sense this future is a real world as complex as our own rather than a backdrop for the plot.
Overall, I enjoyed this novel immensely. I recommend it to readers seeking fast-paced investigation with depth.
I received a free copy from the author with no request for a review.
This is the sixth volume of Cox’s Division Zero series. Spoilers for previous books might leap out, rise up, or otherwise manifest after this point.
After fighting creatures of the Abyss, reports of ghostly property damage and invisible fumblings feel almost like a rest for Kirsten Wren. However, as the manifestations start occurring faster than she can finish the reports for the previous ones and some turn deadly, she must find the underlying reason before the city is overrun.
As with previous volumes, Cox skilfully blends police procedural, cyberpunk, psionics, ghosts, and ongoing personal plots. While Kristen’s powers and technology do give her certain advantages, as the only person on the force able to see ghosts—and one of the few to believe in them—she is both barraged with reports of every possible supernatural event and faced with disbelief when she attempts to resolve them.
However, Cox does not rely on the flashy aspects of his world: at its core the plot is driven by the ubiquitous detective methods of looking for patterns in evidence and playing hunches.
In parallel with Kirsten’s struggle to balance attending new incidents and devoting time to investigating for root causes, her happy home life becomes another potential obstacle: looking after any preteen boy takes work, let alone one with psychic powers, and romance requires at least some romancing. Having only her own terrible upbringing to show her how parenthood shouldn’t be, and only a mind-controlling cultist ex to show her how loving relationships aren’t, Kirsten continues to agonise over the ordinary. As well as providing a contrast to the grittiness of psionic policing in a techo-dystopia, it offers a pleasing change from the brilliant but anti-social loner with an unhealthy lifestyle trope that often features in detective dramas.
As testimony to the depth of Cox’s world-building, despite being six books into the series, the supernatural aspects of plot retain a sense disturbing uncertainty while also feeling consistent and explicable in hindsight.
While the plot is filled with investigation and supernatural creepiness, Cox does not sell the cyberpunk aspects short. There is plenty of fast-paced action with even driving across the city on a routine journey liable to be dialled up to eleven and lit in neons.
Befitting a detective story featuring happy home life, the thread of humour that Cox inserts into all his books centres around the slightly off-colour banter of police officers and the slapstick of child-raising.
Kirsten remains a highly sympathetic protagonist, torn between her inclination to save people, her desire to stay alive for Evan, and her awareness that she does need to rest eventually. In addition to the existing worries her job brings, Cox implies an unconscious concern that—as Evan can also see ghosts and is only a few years younger than police cadets—if she fails to stay on top of things, he might be “strongly persuaded” to volunteer for active duty.
Evan—while not a point-of-view character as he was in Book 5—remains a strong and engaging presence, offering the reader a different but equally realistic perspective to Kristen’s on how an abused child might react to a better life.
The supporting cast, both returning and new, are nuanced and varied, providing a strong sense this future is a real world as complex as our own rather than a backdrop for the plot.
Overall, I enjoyed this novel immensely. I recommend it to readers seeking fast-paced investigation with depth.
I received a free copy from the author with no request for a review.
June 19, 2020
Haunts Galore
•••NOT for the homophobic, transphobic, closedminded, or faint of heart!•••
This series must be read in order.
Kirsten's life is on track. She has a good job, a great best friend, a fantastic kid and an amazing boyfriend... Now if there were just more Astral Psionics! There is one in East City and her and her son Evan in West City. She doesn't want him working for Division 0 when he grows up if at all possible... But she'd like to not be only one of two Astral Psionics working for Division 0. When there is any kind of ghost activity she has to respond in West City because there is literally no one else who can do her job. With the major increase in ghost related calls Kirsten is spread thin and working a lot of overtime. Why are there so many angry ghosts all of a sudden? What is making them so agitated? Is there another entity like the Warf Stalker about? Or is it something else? How can she handle this all on her own? Will they ever find any more Astral Psionics? Or are they really that rare? Maybe there are more who just think they are crazy? Why can't she catch a break?
***This series is suitable for adult readers who enjoy dystopian futuristic sci-fi with plenty of intrigue set in a post postapocalyptal world where nothing is as it seems and the paranormal vies with advanced science for control of the world :)
•••NOT for the homophobic, transphobic, closedminded, or faint of heart!•••
This series must be read in order.
Kirsten's life is on track. She has a good job, a great best friend, a fantastic kid and an amazing boyfriend... Now if there were just more Astral Psionics! There is one in East City and her and her son Evan in West City. She doesn't want him working for Division 0 when he grows up if at all possible... But she'd like to not be only one of two Astral Psionics working for Division 0. When there is any kind of ghost activity she has to respond in West City because there is literally no one else who can do her job. With the major increase in ghost related calls Kirsten is spread thin and working a lot of overtime. Why are there so many angry ghosts all of a sudden? What is making them so agitated? Is there another entity like the Warf Stalker about? Or is it something else? How can she handle this all on her own? Will they ever find any more Astral Psionics? Or are they really that rare? Maybe there are more who just think they are crazy? Why can't she catch a break?
***This series is suitable for adult readers who enjoy dystopian futuristic sci-fi with plenty of intrigue set in a post postapocalyptal world where nothing is as it seems and the paranormal vies with advanced science for control of the world :)
May 2, 2022
The Shadow Fixer
Another great action packed installment. This book was hard to put down from the start. I enjoyed solving the cases right beside the characters and I really enjoyed the concepts.
Another great action packed installment. This book was hard to put down from the start. I enjoyed solving the cases right beside the characters and I really enjoyed the concepts.
April 26, 2022
“Once again I enjoyed this story and how Kristen’s life is developing. The adventure continues with a little bit of craziness that had me entertained.”
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews