Alternative Worlds
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Thirteen
Richard K. Morgan
Del Rey, Jul 2007, $24.95
ISBN: 0345485254
In the future, genetic reengineering has enabled the government to use the tools to develop a series of human subclasses who only “live” to perform specific dangerous tasks. The norms are fascinated in a macabre way with these drones, but all humans fear the Thirteen, a pre-civilization creation known for its lethal aggression and kept under strict guard off planet.
However, a disaster strike when a Thirteen escapes its Martian exile and does what this sub-stratum is capable of: mass and serial murders. Bone marrow tired Thirteen bounty hunter Carl Marsalis is assigned to put an end to this killing machine although he quit being a government hit man. As he goes after his prey, Marsalis reflects how those who created him and his target made them what they are; yet these normals fear and distrust him as much as they do the Thirteen.
This is an action-packed complex High Noon science fiction novel but it also much more as Richard K. Morgan leaves his audience to ponder what makes a human and is bias a normal trait. Fascinatingly Marsalis as a created killer (of mostly Thirteen) is in some ways the most human of the cast as his Normal handlers see him and the other specialists as throwaway machines less than they are. He, on the other hand, commiserates with his prey as all he wants is stop killing even if it means life in a Miami prison. This thought provoking futuristic thriller will be on most short lists for sci fi book of the year.
Richard K. Morgan
Del Rey, Jul 2007, $24.95
ISBN: 0345485254
In the future, genetic reengineering has enabled the government to use the tools to develop a series of human subclasses who only “live” to perform specific dangerous tasks. The norms are fascinated in a macabre way with these drones, but all humans fear the Thirteen, a pre-civilization creation known for its lethal aggression and kept under strict guard off planet.
However, a disaster strike when a Thirteen escapes its Martian exile and does what this sub-stratum is capable of: mass and serial murders. Bone marrow tired Thirteen bounty hunter Carl Marsalis is assigned to put an end to this killing machine although he quit being a government hit man. As he goes after his prey, Marsalis reflects how those who created him and his target made them what they are; yet these normals fear and distrust him as much as they do the Thirteen.
This is an action-packed complex High Noon science fiction novel but it also much more as Richard K. Morgan leaves his audience to ponder what makes a human and is bias a normal trait. Fascinatingly Marsalis as a created killer (of mostly Thirteen) is in some ways the most human of the cast as his Normal handlers see him and the other specialists as throwaway machines less than they are. He, on the other hand, commiserates with his prey as all he wants is stop killing even if it means life in a Miami prison. This thought provoking futuristic thriller will be on most short lists for sci fi book of the year.
