This book wouldn’t let me go when it was time to sleep last night.
For the first long bit, the book is a dystopian near future police thriller. There is one obvious twist: Heinlein Inc. has been producing reviors– technologically reanimated corpses– for a while now. They fight wars for the US government, and are smuggled in/imported for other grunt labor.
The book has four point-of-view characters who get regular turns– no one gets only half the chapters of the others. Two link up soon and substantially: Nico and Faye, who are FBI and police respectively. The other two tie in less strongly, but their perspective provides useful balance to the world view: Calliope and Zoe. Zoe has a strange perspective– it’s clear she has a lot of problems– but it’s also clear that she’s going to be an important POV for the sequel. Speaking of which: the story ends at a good break point, it feels like a completed novel. You might be content to call this a stand alone novel, until Nico’s final scene, which clearly signposts a continuing storyline.
The characters are all good and interesting, but Nico has top billing. The other characters all compliment his story well, but the driving force of the story is his. In many ways, his is the only life that is enviable– everyone else is wrestling squalor, exhaustion, and third class status.
All in all, a good book, with a very interesting twist that develops throughout the second half of the novel. I’ll be looking for the sequel. [It’s called THE SILENT ARMY, according to the author’s blog.]