Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

Such a great reading. It took me a while to get this done but I have lot of fun. Essential for RKM fans, but not that much to non-fans as I would recommend them to start with other bookes from him such as Altered Carbon, The Steel Remains and Market Forces. But, hey, this is the kind of book I expect from Richard and I am really looking forward to read more like this. Apologies for the delay on providing this review.

Please note that this book is not for me - I have read the book, However I had to DNF and because i do not like to give negative reviews I will not review this book fully - there is no specific reason for not liking this book. I found it a struggle to read and did not enjoy trying to force myself to read this book.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused and thank you for the opportunity to read this book

It's been eight years since Richard Morgan published a new book. Thin Air (review copy from Gollancz) is his latest, and it takes no prisoners. Hakan Veil is muscle for hire. A human enhanced to be an Overrider, working for the corporates to deal with crises in deep space. But an incident left his contract terminated, and him living from contract to contract in the frontier colonies of Mars.

Waking from one of his regular periods of hibernation, Veil is "running hot": the crisis response he was engineered to deliver, pumped with adrenaline and super-fast reactions. Within a very short space of time he finds himself arrested for murder in the aftermath of one of his contracts, but released on condition he provides security to Madison Madekwe, one of a team of investigators sent by the Earth authorities to investigate alleged corruption in the colonial administration. Madekwe is kidnapped and Veil finds himself trying to protect his charge and unravel a conspiracy.

This is a thriller that travels at extreme break-neck speed. So fast that you barely have time to draw breath and any weaknesses in the plot will pass you by. As you would expect from Morgan, it is also incredibly violent with an extremely high body count and the fetishisation of firearms. But if you want a fast-paced, high-concept thriller with lots of excitement and some fantastic twists and turns, this will deliver in spades.

Its a long time since I read Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon and its two sequels, but I remembered enjoying them. Having similarly enjoyed the recent Netflix adaptation it seemed a no-brainer to give Thin Air a chance when I was offered access to a pre-publication copy via NetGalley.

Turns out that in the seventeen years since Altered Carbon was published either my taste for noir-SciFi novels has changed, Richard Morgan's writing has gone seriously downhill or my recollection of his previous novels is really way off-track, because boy-oh-boy, did I Thin Air prove to be a slog.

The primary reasons for this are a page count that isn't justified by the plot and a plot that never really grabs you. I read an e-book copy of Thin Air, but I imagine that the print version is something of a doorstop. I have never really understood the obsession of sci-fi authors with producing slab-like novels. You can argue that it necessary to squeeze in the required world building and in some cases this it true. Equally, sometimes a novel's epic scope demands an epic length. Often as not however, it just provides authors with an excuse to pad-out or over-complicate their relatively straight forward stories, and results in narratives that drag or go around in too many circles. That's exactly what happens in Thin Air, with Morgan taking a relatively simple story and burdening it with too much exposition, too many characters and way, way, way too many plot-twists. The result is story that seems to spend forever spinning its wheels without ever really going anywhere, a fact that periodic episodes of ultra-violence or snigger inducing, mildly-embarrassing, middle-aged male fantasy sex scenes don't really mask.

Not that the central story is really terribly engaging. For that to be the case you'd have to really care about the characters, and I found that at no point did I really become invested in the fates of anyone. With the exception of Veil, through whose eyes the entire novel unfolds, none of the other characters are ever really developed as real people. They remain noir-novel archetypes; stripper-with-a-heart-of-gold, femme-fatale with a secret, corrupt politician, corrupt cop, etc. Even Veil himself never becomes a character you can relate to, his augmented nature and the futuristic setting removing common ground. Add in a central conspiracy that remains murky for almost the entire length of the book only to be hugely underwhelming when finally revealed, and you have plot that never grips you the way a noir-ish thriller should, whether its set on Mars or not.

Cut the page count by forty-percent, lose a bunch of minor characters and several plot twists and you might have had a perfectly serviceable sci-fi thriller. Morgan still writes action well; punchy and visceral. His world building is good too; showing a degree of originality in its depiction of a colonised Mars and offering tantalising glimpses of a wider possible
inter-stellar future (although he does that annoying thing that many contemporary sci-fi and fantasy authors do of not explaining anything and leaving the reader to work out what different invented terminology and other references mean). There are some good things in Thin Air.

Its just a pity that they're buried in book that feels so unnecessarily ponderous and self-indulgent.

An absolutely brilliant read from Morgan, in no way lowering the standard set by his other texts! This was an interesting twist on a mystery and I am very thankful for having been given this book to read

Utterly fab! I had to really concentrate when I started reading, as Thin Air just chucks you straight into the mix of jargon and futuristic tech with no explanations, but I like that. I don't want to be spoon-fed the whys and wherefores, I want to be exasperated and enthused in equal measure. No spoilers here for the plot, but the characters are ace. Read and enjoy.

On Mars, Hakan Veil is charged with protecting Madison Madekwe, recently arrived as part of an Earth audit team. Power battles crisscross the narrative, and no-one's motive is as it first appeared.

I did enjoy this but don't think I'd choose it again. I'm getting more and more into science fiction, but this was just rather too long for me.

This is a violent hard boiled detective story, a Chandleresque noir, full of femme fatales, hidden agendas, and convenient bangs on the head when the plot needs a quick push along. The only difference is that here the detective is a genetically modified, borderline psychopath, warrior, and 1940s LA has been swapped out for a colonised Mars.
It's mostly exciting stuff, with some occasional drags, but in the end, it was all just a little bit too macho for me. Richard Morgan has never exactly been a shrinking violet, and I've enjoyed his previous work, but here the sex and violence are so overblown they teeter on the edge of ridiculousness, and unfortunately the whole thing ends up feeling like a suburban office worker's power fantasy. It's good at what it does, but what it does isn't for me this time round.

I've always been a bit nervous about reading classic sci-fi by a male author. For some reason they always make me feel a bit stupid. Like reading a galactic Mayor of Casterbridge but there was something about the description of Thin Air that intrigued me.

I'm very glad that I persisted because this was really enjoyable. The descriptive imagery was tough at times but only because it is so complex and multi-layered. I was reminded constantly of a Blade Runner world - and that's a compliment.

I'm definitely going to read Richard's next book & seek out any back catalogue.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gollancz for the ARC

Thank you to Orion Books and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

It’s narrated by Hakan Veil, a bioengineered ‘overrider’, forcibly discharged and now surviving on Mars by picking up rather dubious work. After getting in trouble with the local police, he is forced to act as a bodyguard for a visiting member of an audit team from Earth who is looking into the disappearance of a lottery winner. Sounds simple but almost from the start things go spectacularly wrong and Veil finds himself in a series of complex and very dangerous situations.

This was my first novel by Richard Morgan and I admit that I wasn’t quite prepared for the ultra violence. I also had been concerned that I would be lost given that aspects of the Martian culture had been introduced in his previous novel, ‘Thirteen’. That concern was justified as I often felt confused by the slang, terminology and history that its characters took for granted.

So while I appreciated that Morgan was sharing his raw, dark vision of a future Mars in an uncompromising voice, I did struggle with the convulsions of the plot. I found that some scenes flowed, yet at other times I found it hard going.

I did admire the wry humour throughout and the strong supporting characters, especially the women. This balanced things some. I feel that while I rated it as 3 stars, it would rate higher with fans of Morgan’s style of SF noir. Still I may look into his other works and revisit this afterwards.

An ex-corporate enforcer, Hakan Veil, is forced to bodyguard Madison Madekwe, part of a colonial audit team investigating a disappeared lottery winner on Mars. But when Madekwe is abducted, and Hakan nearly killed, the investigation takes him farther and deeper than he had ever expected. And soon Hakan discovers the heavy price he may have to pay to learn the truth.

Time for some gritty science fiction from the brain of Richard Morgan, he of Altered Carbon fame.

Down on your luck and given a choice between jail time or a body guarding gig, what are you going to do? Hakan Veil, Hak to his few friends, Veil to everyone else, opts for the latter. The only problem is that within a matter of days, and an epic error of judgement on his part, his charge has been kidnapped. Veil could just walk away but he is far too stubborn for that. No one is going to stop him from doing his job. There is a blissful lack of complication when it comes to Veil’s methods of retrieving auditor Madison Madekwe; direct doesn’t even begin to cover it. His game plan, at first glance, appears to be shoot anything that moves and if it survives question it. Of course, as his investigation continues it becomes more and more obvious that there is actually some depth to our protagonist. Yes, he might shoot from the hip, but his gung-ho attitude belies a razor sharp brain and keen observational skills. Though he is an entirely self-absorbed pessimist, most of the time Veil is extremely good at what he does. He knows people, knows what drives them and knows what buttons to press to get the results he wants. He is the perennial tough guy, the almost but not quite, world-weary gumshoe. I’ve been thinking a lot about what other fictional characters I could best compare him to. I may have imagined it, but I think there might be a very subtle nod to the classic 70s crime flick, Get Carter in Thin Air, and that struck a chord with me. It feels like the perfect comparison, a quintessential anti-hero driven by a questionable moral compass, yeah that works. Hakan Veil is Jack Carter in space, perhaps with a bit of Blade Runner’s Rick Deckard thrown in for good measure.

One of the most intriguing facets of this character is the constraint he is forced to live by. Military conditioning and biological tampering means Veil has to spend four months out of every twelve in hibernation. When he initially awakes he ‘runs hot’. Essentially meaning there is an additional urgency to everything he does. His internal dialogue and reactions to certain situations read like they have been turned up to eleven. Veil is a flawed super soldier and there you can sense the bitterness that surrounds his character. In all honesty, I’m not sure that I even liked him. He is gruff, snarky and more than a little surly, but he is genuinely fascinating character to watch. Veil stomps around Mars dishing out his own brand of revenge, violence and twisted justice.

The other characters are a uniformly sleazy bunch, Morgan’s vision of Mars is no utopia. Our “hero’ spends a lot of his time rubbing shoulders with gangsters, hackers, prostitutes, thugs and political zealots. The authorities aren’t much better. Local law enforcement are crooked, people from Earth view Martians as second class citizens, and the military are keen just to control everyone with a brutal efficiency.

There are also elements of the plot that made me think of old westerns. Though the planet has been settled for some time, Mars is still viewed by many as a frontier world. The further away you get from the big cities, the more lawless the world becomes. In many of the more remote locations it’s the criminals who run the show.

This amalgam of different genres, wrapped up in a shiny science fiction package, really works well. A lead character who bleeds gunslinger attitude finds himself in a mystery/detective noir that features mob war action, political land grabs and high-tech weaponry. Works for me.

The world building in Thin Air is pretty impressive. Unlike some other science fiction novels I’ve read, it doesn’t feel signposted or in your face. There aren’t reams and reams of explanation. The world-building is just there in the background, fleshing out the locations and inhabitants of the red planet. The author deftly scatters the narrative with little moments that help the reader to better understand Mars and the people that live there. Economics and politics play key components in this plot and the logistics of this are dealt with admirably.

Anyone who has read Richard Morgan’s work before will not be massively surprised when I tell you that Thin Air is decidedly adult in nature. For the uninitiated however, a word of warning. The violence is extreme, body parts have a habit of not remaining where they are supposed to when powerful handguns are involved. Things do get deliciously bloody. There are also a couple of sex scenes that leave very little to the imagination. My advice, if you are easily offended or delicate of nature, this is not the novel for you. I had no such qualms. This is down and dirty sci-fi and I loved it.

Thin Air is exactly what I have come to expect from this author, an unashamedly adult science fiction thriller. I can only hope there are further novels planned featuring some of the characters we meet here. Hakan Veil lives a unique existence and it feels like there are more stories involving him that are still left to tell.

I thoroughly enjoyed “getting my ass to Mars” so it seemed appropriate that my soundtrack recommendation to accompany Thin Air is the classic* Total Recall by Jerry Goldsmith. I have to admit I was visualising Morgan’s Mars to have that same grimy, slightly run down look it has in the Paul Verhoven’s movie so the music seems like a good fit.

Thin Air is published by Gollancz and is available now.

*Classic? Wow, that makes we feel super old. I wonder if I’m considered a classic now?… hmm, probably not.

Thin Air is Richard Morgan’s first SciFi novel in eight years. I have to admit that I was unaware of Morgan until the Netflix adaption of his first, Altered Carbon, but, inspired by that, I then picked up the three books in that series. The latest, although set in a different ‘universe’ shares much with the earlier trilogy.
Thin Air is a hard-boiled noir. It may be set on Mars but is as influenced by Chandler, Hammett and MacDonald as it is by Ray Bradbury. The protagonist, Hakan Veil, bio-engineered from childhood to be an enhanced corporate soldier, is much more Mike Hammer than Philip Marlowe. Veil is essentially a thug who solves problems with his fists, always aided by a built-in AI. Having been arrested after one such ‘solution’, Veil is blackmailed into acting as bodyguard for a representative of Earth auditors, sent to interrogate the finances of ‘frontier’ businesses.
The labyrinthian plot involves political and corporate corruption, organised crime, femme fatales, a missing lottery winner and a lot of violence. I admit I got a little lost at times but The Big Sleep is one of my favourites so not being entirely sure of what is going on is not necessarily a problem. Thin Air is no The Big Sleep but it is a good read. Mars is realistically realised and the mixture of science fiction with frontier town lawlessness is fascinating.
On the evidence of Thin Air and the Altered Carbon-series, Richard Morgan is a master of the futuristic, hard-boiled hybrid and I would not be surprised to see Hakan Veil join Takeshi Kovacs on screen.

Thin Air is a new sci-fi novel from Richard K. Morgan, whose Altered Carbon was recently made into a hit series on Netflix. Much like that work (and indeed, Morgan’s oeuvre as a whole), Thin Air combines some scintillating, imaginative ideas with unapologetic violence and, whisper it, more than a little sex. This is science-fiction as neo-noir thriller, with gunfights, multiple shadowy agenda, and blood on the floor keeping bums on seats. But it also wants to be something bigger, letting the reader see a society teetering on the edge of something, between corrupt officials and broken heads. It shows us a system of the world which is broken, and whose members simply accept that as the way it is – and the consequences of their acceptance are there in the hackers diving into government systems, in the casual divide between a dominant elite and everyone else, in the drops of dark blood staining the fibres of a luxury carpet.

But is it any good, though? If you’re a returning reader of Morgan’s sci-fi work, I’ll make than an immediate yes. You can slip into the Martian domes like a pair of comfortable shoes, following along with a worn out antihero who has Done Some Things, and hit the ground running. The writing’s still like you remember – taut, razor sharp, unflinching. If you’re coming to Morgan through this book, I think it’s still a fast-paced, compelling read.

This is Mars. It’s no longer a pioneer world. There are cities under the domes, and geological engineering continues. If there aren’t the thriving urban areas of earth, there’s still two cities under distinct political banners, with their own satellite towns. Still dependent on the veiled might of earth, the regime that manages one of these cities is laissez faire, prepared to do a lot to keep the eyes and ears of businesses big and small, and also astonishingly corrupt. A Mars that believes anyone can pull themselves up by their bootstraps is our stage, even if – perhaps especially if – that isn’t true. The action slides between the opulent mansions of the ultra-wealthy and the holding cells provided for those who disagree, staffed by cops who take their money and, if they’re still willing to ask questions, are also prepared to forget the answers.

This is Mars. A world living the slogan that what they make is better, driving a revolution of small startup businesses, the system crushing those who fail, those who succeed drawn into the web of favours and extortion. This is Mars. A world - a *world* - of barren plains separated by these areas of human habitation, of hope in the face of hostility. Where everyone knows everyone else is on the take, and is looking to make their cut as well. This is Mars. It’s beautiful, and riven with social, political, even geographical issues. It’s a place where hope and a dream can carry you to the heights of existence, and where one misstep will throw you over the edge into madness and despair. This is Mars.

Our guide to Mars is Hakan Veil. Veil was a monster come to life, a corporate killer. Now he lives on Mars, washed up, dreaming of returning to Earth. Veil makes for an interesting read. He’s obviously a smart person, and his internal monologue backs that up – filled with plans, counter plots, and moves within moves. That he can back that intelligence and tactical sense up with an urge toward violence is a bonus. If Veil is out of his depth, it’s because he’s fallen into some very deep waters. Still, this is the voice of Mars – cynical, invested in a system which he doesn’t believe in, knowing everyone has an angle. Veil is fast and deadly, but carries some undertones of vulnerability. He’s not a killer with a heart of gold, but still someone who, given the choice, would do the right thing. Quite what the right thing is may depend. Veil is loyal to his friends, and prepared to go to extremes in service to a goal; not a zealot, but a potential monster, shaped by circumstance, holding back the tide with good-will and epithets.

If you’re here for the action, Veil can work as a power fantasy. Almost inhuman in speed, precision, ferocity, he’s the black-ops killer that everyone wants and no-one needs. Like the man himself, the prose in Veil’s fights is almost too fast to see, as you’re turning the pages to follow each weave, each dive, each crack of the gun. Veil could be too much, too far, but he carries the truth of his humanity too. People who owe favours, yes. Enemies, absolutely. Friends – a few. There’s an introspection here, a fatalistic streak too. This is someone willing to pay the cost of their actions, with an exhausted line of melancholia which weaves right through the neo-noir environs of the Martian city. Veil is a hardass, and that’s a fact. But he’s old, tired, a veteran of other people’s wars. Morgan succeeds in bringing Veil to life for us, in showing that what happens after you make a stand is just as important as what came before. Veil lives and breathes, as much as Marlowe or Gittes ever did.
Though this is Veil’s story, there are others of course – government functionaries. Peacekeeper’s ,straddling the line between pragmatism in the face of power, and open corruption. Criminals – hackers, sneak thieves, con-artists, outright idiots. Religious maniacs, and those who give populism, nationalism and identity a voice.

As an aside, I've argued before that women don't always get the greatest space in Morgan's work, and that's nicely averted here. There's women at all levels, assisting or causing trouble for Veil as their needs permit. Police captains, black-bag agents, misguided gangers, politicians. It's nice to see some diversity at play here. It's nicer still that these agents of power and authority, in and-out of narrative, have their own schemes, their own needs - they're not here for Veil, but perhaps in spite of him. The book is all the better for it.

Anyway.
There’s a lot going on in this book.

In some ways it’s simple. Protect the client, get paid, go home. If someone has to get shot along the ay, that’s a shame. But things aren’t that simple. Layer upon layer of concealed meaning wraps the narrative, as we try and work out who’s double crossing who, and why. If you’re here for the gunplay, there’s a lot of it – tight, kinetic prose mixed in with splashes of blood, and the cordite smell of the consequences. But there’s politics here too, wrapped in obfuscation and mystery -as Veil tries to work out what’s going on and why, and we come along for the ride. There’s larger causes, and those intertwine with the personal needs of a man who isn’t entirely sure what he wants – or needs – any longer.

In any event, there’s a lot going on. I love the Mars we see here – riven by factional politics and suffering under the leeches of corruption, it’s still a vibrant and distinct culture. Indeed, those things – and the upsurge in nationalism and independence – are part of the Martian culture. I have a lot of time for Veil, an action hero brought out of retirement, too tired to deal with any of the nonsense that the world keeps throwing at him. And the plot will suck you in and keep you trying to figure out where it’s going, and how it’s all going to end.

Does it work? Yes, I think so. There’s sex and violence aplenty, but it doesn’t feel over-done; it’s merely a part of the world. There’s a story which invites you to invest in it, and will reward you for doing so, filled with complex characters in a difficult, living, breathing world. If you’re in the mood for some fast-paced sci-fi, or ready to dip a toe into a noir novel of the near future – then I can recommend this one wholeheartedly. Once you’ve picked it up, it’s pretty much impossible to put down.

Richard Morgan returns to science fiction after a bit of a break with a sequel of sorts to his last scifi outing Black Man (called Thirteen in the US). That break has seen the Netflix adaptation of his best known scifi work (and debut) Altered Carbon. Those who have read or seen Altered Carbon might find themselves experiencing a strange sense of déjà vu when reading his latest book Thin Air.
Hakan Veil is an overrider. Genetically engineered from before birth to be a supersoldier, he is forced to spend four months of every year in hibernation. When he emerges from that state he “runs hot”, prone to anger and violence. When Thin Air opens, Veil has just been woken and is on an assassination mission in the nightclubs of Mars. Veil was decommissioned from the overriders and exiled to Mars where he makes a living working for underworld figures. Mars is a frontier world, riddled with gangs, corruption and vice, a milieu that Veil slots into perfectly.
At one level Thin Air is a crime story and political thriller although it takes a long time to get there. Veil is assigned to one of the auditors who has come from Earth to clean up Martian corruption. Madison Madekwe is looking into the disappearance of the last man to win the Martian lottery, a scheme that gives one lucky Martian the opportunity to go back to Earth. But when Madekwe herself is abducted and an attempt is made on Veil’s life it turns out there is a lot more going on that just a missing, presumed dead lottery winner.
Thin Air is classic Morgan, using a formula that does not seem to have changed much over the years. Veil solves every problem with violence – fists, big guns and knives – a sparky AI companion called Osiris and, where necessary, pornographically described sex. He relies on a range of friendly or slightly antagonistic allies including a couple in the local police force. And he is able to get out of a bunch of life threatening situations using his on board technology and by violently killing plenty of people but often because his assailant can’t help monologuing.
Space as a frontier town is something science fiction readers have been treated to in spades recently. Books like Ian McDonald’s Luna, Andy Weir’s Artemis and Chris Brookmyre’s Places in the Darkness are good recent examples. Morgan’s Mars has a cyberpunk, run down, lived-in feel complete with a range of political actors and locations built into the Martian landscape. Given its potential impact on the Martian population then, the ultimate mystery itself should create more tension. But in the end it just feels like a vehicle for escalating encounters for Veil and it is hard to care about the outcome for the Martian people one way or the other.
As noted above, while there is no “sleeving” and the background is Martian, there is plenty about Thin Air that is reminiscent of Altered Carbon. It is no stretch at all to imagine Joel Kinneman, who played Takeshi Kovacs on screen, taking the role of Hakan Veil. Similarly plenty of the side characters, including the cocky hacker, policewoman with a heart of gold and head of a Martian crimegang, could easily be played by their Netflix equivalents.
Fans of Morgan and his muscular, ultraviolent, hypersexualised style are likely to be fine with Thin Air. But Hakan Veil quickly outstays his welcome, the plot takes a long time to pick up speed and in the end is not all that engaging so any broader appeal is likely to be limited.

My first book by this author and it won’t be the last, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it and recommend it as great read

Hot on the heels of the <i>Altered Carbon</i> adaptation I didn't even bother to watch*, Richard Morgan's first new SF in longer than I care to think about. It opens hard on a grotty, broken-down Mars colony which instantly feels real and in-your-face, right down to the obsolete SF trappings retained for the sake of tourist nostalgia, and the passers-by arguing intently about whether or not the much-hyped new rain system is actually worthy of the name: "Oh <i>fuck</i> off, Seepage wouldn't even make it down here. Look there - it's making <i>puddles</i> already." It also makes an unnecessary difficulty for itself with the introduction of the all-powerful Colony Initiative – abbreviated to, yes, COLIN. Still, even with that handicap this is a propulsive read which I would deem 'page-turning' if only I hadn't been reading it as a Netgalley ARC on my 'phone. Screen-sliding? And it's that sort of immediate tech-derived detail at which Morgan excels. Not that I didn't enjoy his fantasy** sojourn, but there was always that faint sense that, through a slight deficiency in his familiarity with the field, he thought he was doing something newer than he actually was. Back on home turf, that's never an issue. Yeah, the plot is broadly familiar stuff – it's set somewhere adjacent to the earlier <i>Black Man</i> aka <i>Thirteen</i>, as witness lead Hakan Veil being a hibernoid, and follows a badass on ambivalent terms with the law as he gets caught up in a bigger, more dangerous mess than he anticipated. Exotic weaponry is deployed, inventive physical violence crunches, and sexual tension sparks. It's good fun, for sure, yet nothing more than that. But all this standard fare is just the skeleton on which to hang a world where the West's big Martian settlement goes by the noble name of Bradbury...but the thoroughfares tell a less high-minded story, with streets named after everyone from Musk down to Hayek, and the valley in which it sits is more generally known as the Gash. There's vacuous, speculative 'news' on repeat on the screens, "And none of it could quite hide the colossal dearth of facts currently available to anyone in the media machine. More than anything, it reminded me of listening to the high, thin scream of air whistling out through a hull breach and into the vacuum beyond" – never have I seen the sensation of watching the endless coverage of Brexit or Trump so well encapsulated. There are mosquito-like drones injecting new code to the body to ensure optimised Martian survival, such that coming up from a hibernoid sleep means the same agonising delay as patches get patched and then patched again which we endure when facing OS upgrades. Hell, there's even the detail of Quechua being a lingua franca on Mars, because yes, now I think about it, of course people used to the Andes would be among the first ones able to cope with a half-terraformed world. But I didn't think about it. Morgan did, and that's why he's so good at this stuff. And at telling stories of the worlds we've made for ourselves, where the temptation to clean away the accumulated filth of corruption and vested interests crashes into the awareness of how much damage that sort of purge always entails. Ultraviolence with a social conscience.

*Yes, James Purefoy. But if you gut Quellism you've pretty much turned it into another bog-standard SF noir, and why would I have ten hours to spare on that?

**Yes, fantasy which ultimately tied back to his SF work, but come on.