04/26/2021
Hawkes’s enthralling debut science fiction takes place in a future where implanted microchips connect humanity to all things technological and have become the only way of life for most people. Everything is done with a thought, and no one uses cell phones, controllers, computers, or even cash, thanks to the Vitasync neurochip from BioNarratus. When rumors begin swirling that people are dying and the chip may be to blame, Cole Westbay, one of Vitasync’s creators, investigates and finds answers the government is trying to hide. That makes him a problem they need to get rid of, and he wakes up one morning missing his chip and much of his memory.
Although the story’s often technical, with passages detailing how the implanted chips work with the brain, the programming involved, and their interfacing with other technologies, Hawkes hits the right balance of explaining just enough to be clear while eschewing jargon that might put off those without tech backgrounds. When the government, through an insider at Vitasync, adds an assassination code to a software update that is so sloppy it accidentally kills many people, Hawkes quickly and clearly reveals what the characters investigating the code are finding while simultaneously ramping up the story’s suspense.
The plot’s sturdy if not surprising, but Hawkes’s inventions like the “lifelog”–a cloud-based record of everyone’s life that people often rely on more than their own memories–resonate. It’s Hawkes’s characters who set this thriller apart, offering a welcome change of pace for the genre. Highly intelligent, exceptionally strong women protagonists are pivotal to the storyline– lawyers, VP’s, engineering geniuses, and multi-dimensional leaders. Even characters who function as antagonists are fiercely intelligent and well-crafted. Hawkes fleshes out his cast with many layers, a strategy that will keep readers invested in getting to know them as Cole strives to reveal the truth.
Takeaway: Fans of tech-savvy science fiction will be drawn into the web of those fighting to save society from technology that has spiraled out of control.
Great for fans of: Neal Shusterman’s Scythe, Douglas E. Richards’s Mind’s Eye.
Production grades Cover: A Design and typography: A Illustrations: N/A Editing: A Marketing copy: A
