Detective noir meets cyberpunk as the oddly named Takeshi Kovaks tries to figure out who done it. In a futuristic society, those with enough bucks can change bodies like changing their socks and memories can be stored and retrieved later. But most people can’t afford it.The author does a fine job showing how this technology affects society and exploring the vast differences between the upper and lower classes. The novel focuses on characters which sometimes covers a weak plot, but not here. If anything the plot gets a bit too convoluted, especially near the end.Although the story goes over a lot of familiar territory with the femme fatale and bad guy angles, there’s enough creativity to make the story interesting. Like how do you define the consciousness of a person when they can swap identities? What happens when someone appears in a body that another person once knew?A few minor grouses about being able to send information flying all around cyberspace yet not being able to encrypt it and too many people smoking like chimneys aside, this is an impressive debut novel. I’ll definitely read the next in the series.
