RedDevil 4
In the near future, about 40 years from now, pretty much everybody is walking around with a neural implant inside their head, linking them to virtually everyone else. This isn’t an especially new idea—plenty of other writers are telling stories about cultures based on similar technology—but Leuthardt, an expert in the science of neuroprosthetics, puts a fresh spin on the idea by tying it to a mystery story. A series of murders has the police stumped; detective Edwin Krantz, a guy who would feel more at home in a less-technological era, works his way through the clues and evidence until he reaches Dr. Hagan Maerici, an artificial-intelligence researcher whose early work might have a connection with today’s epidemic of murders. While the writing is a bit raw—the author is a veteran scientist but a rookie novelist, and it shows a little—the story is quite intriguing and smartly constructed, and boasts a cast of memorable characters (Krantz being the standout). --David Pitt