Just Finished Reading: Hammerjack by Marc D Giller

In the not too distant future the dream of generations has finally been achieved – after many failures a self-sustaining Synthetic Intelligence (SI) has been created. Unfortunately for her creators (and everyone else at the facility) she is insane and kills anyone who threatens her brief existence. Meanwhile, ex-Hammerjack turned hunter, Cray Alden is on a seemingly easy case of intercepting a data smuggler in SE Asia. When an airport shoot-out leaves dozens dead, including his target, he becomes infected with her cargo of datapacked viruses which begin to rewrite his DNA. Two factions, long at war with each other over the future of mankind, want to control or destroy both the SI and the virus. Alden finds himself in the middle of a global conflict for the soul of humanity with few friends and a price on his head that none can ignore.

Although not in the same league as Gibson or Sterling this was definitely in the ballpark. As a first outing of a new author this was a rather impressive read – despite a few fumbles and clichés here and there. With good characterisation and a reasonably strong (and more importantly coherent) storyline this is a fine addition to the Cyberpunk genre. Nicely visual with gadgets galore – though none of them ruin the plot by getting the hero out of impossible situations too often – action ‘sequences’ that shame the best that movies can provide and dialogue that often had me laughing out loud this is a fun read for any geek worth his voltage. I’m looking forward to the sequel – which is a good thing as I actually bought that first. Recommended.