Excellent, dark, science fiction is about as hard to find as water in the desert and it's just as precious. Ms. Moriarty's Spin books are the closest thing to Richard K. Morgan I've encountered since Richard K. Morgan himself. And though they linger a bit too long over issues of romance in a future dominated by clones and artificial intelligences, they are, on the whole, successful missions into the darkness of man's soul.
Spin State is a long and tangled tale of deception and betrayal. Catherine Li, a misanthropic genetic clone who has successfully forged for herself a false but active career inside UNSEC, a kind of United Nations of the future, lives in fear of discovery every day of her life. Cloning has been banned by future Earth and all its various colonies, an injunction which lead to a split between humans and the posthuman syndicates (clones) who believe that evolution of body and thought and power can only truly come through genetic engineering and not the sloppy, random firings of natural reproduction. But while most syndicates prefer the company of their own kind, something compels Li to fit into human society despite the risks of discovery by her human superiors. Born on a poor, colony world, her escape was UNSEC and a human identity. But now she's being sent on a mission back to her homeworld, to the industrial slums and to the memories she's tried so hard to destroy. She's returned to investigate the murder of a scientist who holds a secret that could change the very future of humanity.
Ms. Moriarty challenges her readers with a constellation of characters, all of whom seem to have done their private deals with the devil. There are no clean skins in this bunch which is what makes Li's investigation so rewarding. She knows they are dirty, and they know she knows. The question is, in this world driven by murderous self-interest, who will win out, the truthseeker or the ones trying to silence her? An excellent, atmospheric, futuristic mystery with a female antihero as dark as they come. Excellent work not just for its mystery and its characters, but for how it confronts the notion of what is human, of what is right, and what is truth. (4/5 Stars)
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