Starred review from May 14, 2007
T
his stellar new stand-alone from Morgan, known for his compelling future noir thrillers (Altered Carbon, etc.), raises tantalizing questions about the nature of humanity. Future governments have used genetic manipulation to create subhumans twisted to fit specialized tasks. Normal people are intrigued as well as repulsed, but they instinctively dread variation thirteen, an aggressive, ruthless throwback to a time before civilization. When a thirteen escapes from exile on Mars and apparently goes on an insane killing spree, Carl Marsalis, a soul-weary freelance thirteen hit man, is hired to help track him down. Morgan goes beyond the SF cliché of the genetically enhanced superman to examine how personality is shaped by nature and experience. Marsalis is more empathetic than the normal people around him, but they can see him only as an untrustworthy killer. At the same time, surveying corrupt, fractured normal society, the novel questions whether the thirteens are just less successful at hiding their motives. Without slowing down the headlong rush of the action, the complex, looping plot suggests that all people may be less—or more—than they seem.
Starred review from October 15, 2007
"Great," says a cop in "Thirteen", "just what we need: a twist for a perp." "Twists," also known as "thirteens," are genetically engineered Alpha males bred by the military to be perfect soldiersaggressive and unsocial. Reviled and shunned by "normal" humans, thirteens prove incapable of taking orders and are exiled to terraformed Mars. When a rogue thirteen returns to Earth and commits a series of brutal crimes, cops call in Carl Marsalis, a nearly washed-up specialist bounty hunter who is also a thirteen. The manhunt is buttressed by a surprisingly rich and detailed story with many intriguing sociopolitical ideas. Morgan's future is an ultraviolent, hedonistic dystopia driven by market forces; his characters are archetypes, insightfully constructed and incisively drawn. The audio keeps the author's dense, layered plot chugging along, and Simon Vance's British accent lends a wearied patina to Carl. Morgan's "Woken Furies" didn't translate well to audio, but this novel is compelling; highly recommended for all popular fiction collections.Douglas C. Lord, Connecticut State Lib., Hartford
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