Review: Shades of Blade Runner
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 14, 2013
Machines of Easy Virtue: A Red Bourbon Mystery by Jack Price is a mystery novel with an interesting title that ultimately proves to be perfect for the story.  When a down-on-his-luck private detective is hired by a rich girl to solve the mystery of her daddy's murder, the job proves too good to be true.The murder mystery aspect is fairly straightforward, and there were no real "AHA!" moments.  The author tries to make it "different" by setting up the story in a futuristic world filled with robots replacing human workers, and genetic manipulation/enhancements for those who could afford it.  However, the main weakness in this book is the lack of world building.  As I was reading the book, it feels like the characters are mere puppets to this grand, bleak setting, and I think the author could have done more to meld or weave this dystopia into the story.I also note that the author has a predilection to use sentence fragments or incomplete sentences in his writing.  This writing style works for some readers, while others may have an issue with it.