Just Finished Reading: Prodigal by Marc D Giller

In the near future the global hi-tech civilisation is on the verge of defeating the anti-technology terrorist group known as the Inru. The greatest weapon against them is Lea Prism an ex-terrorist herself. With the aid of the worlds first functioning Artificial Intelligence she has tracked down and killed most of their operative and destroyed most of their installations. Now only one Inru operation is left – led by Avalon an assassin with almost supernatural abilities. As corporate mercenaries close in on Avalon’s position a discovery is made on Mars. A ship sent to salvage equipment from the failed Mars colony discover a shielded cave containing the bodies of a military unit is suspended animation. Afraid that they are infected with the deadly virus that destroyed the colony years previously they are brought aboard but kept in deep quarantine. But its only when the soldiers are already waking that the crew realise that one among them is an Inru agent and that a deadly plague is on its way back to Earth.

This was the sequel to Hammerjack which I read back in May 2009. I was impressed enough with his first effort and was even more impressed by this one. Giller’s writing has matured nicely since his earlier work and the extra largely unnecessary flourishes which peppered his original book are largely missing. He has kept his detailed sense of place and managed to ramp up the ‘realism’ without losing any of his focus. The plot is nicely tight with good characterisation and some very nice snappy dialogue. Each major character has their own voice, their own sense of self and their own believable history. There are a few stock moments and generic scenes but they were easily forgivable because of the quality of the rest of the book. This is good solid Cyberpunk mixed with a decent dose of Military SF. Prism is a great character and it was a shame to see that the author apparently hasn’t published anything else since 2006/2007 but at least we have the pleasure of his two published works. Recommended.