I wish I had kept my contribution to the debate because it would make writing this review and explaining why Conspiracy in Death is a keeper for me. Instead, I must try to reconstruct my argument about what makes these books so impressive. Robb has set her stories some sixty years in the future, in a world that is eerily plausible and uniformly frightening. It is a world where science has achieved great things. Human beings live well into their 100s.
People travel much more rapidly above the city streets and from city to city.
Droids are available to do much of the unpleasant work of society. Computers provide information instantly and communications by voice and picture are commonplace. Virtual reality allows one to enjoy the beach or the mountains or whatever without leaving one's living room. But it is also a world where the differences between the rich and the poor are even more pronounced than they are today. Where every imaginable kind of sexual act is accepted and performed by Licensed Companions.