Shadow of a dead star by Michael Shean
“Shadow of a dead star” is the first book in the “Wonderland cycle” series and it had me gripped on the first page.
Set in a Cyberpunk future Seattle 2078- Michael Shean’s classic noir style of writing and flowing descriptions bring that dystopian world alive vividly. The author holds nothing back in his Chandler-esque thiller/mystery. It is a stark as it is desolate.
Thomas Walden is an agent of the Industrial Security Bureau and witnesses first hand the horrors of what can be done if the price is right. He stumbles upon something he shouldn’t have seen and now the tables are turned and the hunter becomes the hunted.
The world of Thomas Walden’s is bleak and immoral. Everything has it’s price and human life is devalued to such an extent that it is nothing more than a biological software interface.
It truly is a frightening vision of the future where technology has evolved and humanity has de-evolved into a kind of savagery. It is a decrepit world where the only thing that shines is the gadgetry.
GeneFexCorp is the evil behind the curtain pulling the strings, and everyone in this nightmarishly perverse world are the puppets. Walken finds out the intriguing truth in a stellar ending that you just couldn’t see coming.
Michael Shean created a future noir epic that would make Philip K. Dick and William Gibson proud. “Shadow of a dead star” is Cyberpunk Sci-fi at its best. It is a fast paced, non-stop thriller that is a must read in that genre. I can not wait to read the next book in the series: “Redeye”, just to see what happens next. I highly recommend.
