![]() ![]() There is one passage of a few pages that really amazed me, however. You might think it contradictory - having both an active social life and a fatal habit - but it happens more often than you think." "This particular late night coffee joint happened to be filled with people who had nothing better to do at night than chain-smoke and talk to friends. "There was a pattern to the destroyed devices. "A good thing, because Lee's next words put a floating point on my integer variable. No attempt is ever made at creating a remotely human or realistic character, creating striking wordplay, or adding any insight into the world, real or fictional. Even the first Harry Dresden novel had far more deftness and imagination than this all we have here is a fill-in-the-blank pulp while Dev runs rings around the Keystone Kops that practically worship him. Superliminal rips the danger from Snow Crash and seems to take the rest from the Dresden Files, particularly the rather bad first one smarmy arrogance, terrible jokes, terrible car, absurdly skilled Marty Sue main character, and an over-reliance on tropes as crutches for bad writing. Imagine every private eye cliche, every terrible one-liner, and then give them a nerdy twist and a completely unlikeable protagonist. This book was acutely painful to read I had a bad feeling in the first few pages, and by the third chapter I knew it was easily the worst attempt at a crime pulp I've ever read. The IT spin on detective fiction is akin to what Stross's Laundry series does for spy thrillers, though without the Lovecraftian horrors. It is a fast-paced story driven by a protagonist whose IT knowledge is matched only by his wry sense of humor. By the time you pick up the book, these may already be removed.Īndy Kaiser's Superliminal is a wonderful ITPI mystery. Only a couple of typos and one formatting error got through. The pacing is fast and Kaiser's writing is tight and efficient. ![]() After dropping a couple Lovecraft and Dalí references along the way, I was sold.Īs for the technicals, the book is tightly edited. It was the highlight of the novel for me. It's as if he's living through a Descartes' philosophical proof. The details of Manny's experience are exceptionally well written and the poor guy lapses into a depression brought on by an existential crisis. Manny is forced to complete a vital part of his investigation while suffering through the equivalent of a bad acid trip. Kaiser really shines when Manny is "under duress" (I don't want to spoil the story). Despite going for a bit of Sam Spade, Manny's self-deprecating and wry sense of humor defuses the situation and his ego before either get too serious. When the threat turns real, Kaiser dials up the tension. I wasn't sure what approach Kaiser was going to take here: satire or thriller. For IT geeks though, Kaiser offers them an access port into mystery fiction (much like Rob Steiner did with Aspect of Pale Night). If you don't know http from ftp or a router from a server, it won't impede your ability to enjoy the story. While Kaiser is clearly credentialed to set a detective loose in the world of IT, he doesn't beat his reader over the head with it. Is the guy a crank or a terrorist?ĭon't let the IT part throw you. The police need Manny to get to the bottom of this. He rants about a virus whose release could lead to horrific consequence for humanity. A VHS tape is discovered in a PO Box and reveals a psychotic manifesto from the missing owner of the computer gear. Manny is called in by local law enforcement to help uncover an explanation for the trashing of some computer equipment. ![]() Superliminal is the first book in a (hopefully successful) series of stories about Dev Manny, an Information Technology Private Investigator (ITPI). There are others better than me, others more experienced, others with better stories to tell. I’m not the best information technology private investigator. Networks and computers, data and systems, gadgets and gizmos, tools and toys. I investigate mysteries and problems, all of which revolve around information technology. Even walking someone through the pronunciation tends to glaze them over.īut that’s me. The full title doesn’t fit well on a business card, and no one’s heard of the acronym. Information Technology Private Investigator. My only worry is that unlike my usual cases, this one might just kill me. Still, a missing insane software designer is a magnet to my mental metal: I’m an Information Technology Private Investigator and I love a high-tech problem. But when it starts with me being knocked unconscious and kidnapped, you understand if I’m grumpy. After years of helping people who barely knew how to generate a 2048-bit encryption key, I should’ve been happy to get a client with a real problem. ![]()
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