Available:*
Library | Audience | Home Location | Material Type | Shelf Number | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... Kendall | Adult | Fiction | Book | KAUFM | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... McGovern-Stella Link | Adult | Fiction | Book | KAUFM | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Scenic Woods | Adult | Fiction | Book | KAUFM | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Vinson | Adult | Fiction | Book | KAUFM | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
Perfect for fans of Ben Winters and Cory Doctorow. In this thrilling near-future novel, the secret to eternal life is closely guarded by people who will do anything to protect it--even if it means destroying everything in their path.
Set in Washington D.C. in the near future, climate change has hit hard, fires are burning, unemployment is high, and controversial longevity treatments are only available to the very rich. Enter resourceful young police detective, Jen B. Lu, and her 'partner', Chandler, a SIM implant in her brain and her instant link to the Internet and police records, and constant voice inside her head. He's an inquisitive tough guy, with a helluva sense of humor and his own ideas about solving crimes.
As a detective in the Elder Abuse unit, Jen is supposed to be investigating kids pushing their aging parents to "exit" so they are eligible to get the longevity drug. But what really has her attention are the persistent rumors about Eden, an illegal version of the longevity drug, and the bizarre outbreak of people aging almost overnight, then suddenly dying--is this all connected? Is Big Pharma involved?
When Jen's investigations of Eden take her too close to the truth, she is suspended, Chandler is deactivated, and her boyfriend is freaked out by "the thing inside her brain." This leaves Jen to pursue a very dangerous investigation all by herself.
Author Notes
Michael Kaufman is the author of two novels and seven works of non-fiction. He has worked with the United Nations, governments, NGOs, educators, and companies in fifty countries to promote women's rights.
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
This outstanding series launch from Kaufman (The Possibility of Dreaming on a Night Without Stars), a sci-fi mystery set in the near future, introduces Jen Lu, of the Washington, D.C., PD's Elder Abuse Unit, and her wisecracking sidekick, Chandler, an AI neocortical implant. In the U.S., the spread of advanced AI has caused unemployment to skyrocket, and an epidemic of an encephalitis variant is causing havoc. Parents can now, before they turn 65, opt for euthanasia so that their children can receive a modified longevity treatment once reserved for the super-rich, which would protect their offspring from the epidemic. Jen, who's tasked with probing parents who refuse to accept the deal, learns that a product called Eden may be circulating that's rumored to give anyone access to a long life. Her investigation becomes more urgent after people start aging rapidly, possibly as a result of using Eden. Exceptional worldbuilding (a court decides that personal service robots can't be compelled to testify against their owners) is complemented by sympathetic characters and suspenseful plot twists. Kaufman is a writer to watch. Agent: Ginger Curwen, Julia Lord Literary Management. (Jan.)
Kirkus Review
A dystopian thriller whose heroine, aided by an infallible AI implant, seeks the malefactors behind a deliberately engineered epidemic. Life in the 2030s is good in some ways (LSD is legal, men can give birth), bad in others (Miami Beach is no more, Disney has bought the National Park Service). The world of Detective Jennifer Lu of the Metro D.C. Police's Elder Abuse Unit mainly revolves around two more personal poles: her mistreatment as a child by her monstrous mother, who's now in a nursing home with dementia, and the triumph of the "65 and Out" movement, which requires euthanasia for all parents of that age whose childless children want to get "the treatment" that will make them Timeless, prolonging their lives for decades longer. A chance remark Jen and her synth implant, Chandler, overhear while she's pursuing an assault case against White supremacist James O'Neil and witnessing a shooting involving Delmar Johnson Sr., a father who's not ready to die for Delmar Johnson Jr., alerts her to a broader menace: the possibility that cases of rapid onset spongiform encephalitis, once virtually unheard of, are spiking because of a counterfeit treatment that promises Timeless life but kills its victims swiftly. Warned off the assault case by O'Neil's Timeless father, 112-year-old billionaire Richard O'Neil, and shut down at every turn by her boss, Capt. Kyrie Brooks, Jen struggles to make headway against a monstrous conspiracy. All the while, Kaufman keeps the pot boiling by setting a series of illegal atrocities against the perfectly legal kind his world mostly accepts. A strong, richly imagined brew for stouthearted readers, with hints of a series to follow. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
