From the excellent blog Reading is My Superpower — I Read All the Books (http://superfastreader.com):
In the Face by Lorelei Armstrong
October 1st, 2008 · No Comments
Synopsis:
When a famous movie star appears to have dumped a body on his plastic surgeon’s balcony, a simulation-obsessed detective delves into a seamy world where there are no limits to what people will do for fame.
Review:
Babies getting plastic surgery–that’s all I needed to hear to get interested in Lorelei Armstrong’s debut, In the Face. Melding a hard-boiled style in the tradition of James M. Cain and Andrew Vachss with a cyberpunk sensibility, Armstrong delivers a fast-moving, intellectually stimulating thriller with a strong story at its center.
In the Face is set in a vaguely futuristic world, where “shapers” work on young babies in the hopes of achieving physical perfection. Evo Selig is the biggest shaping success, and has become a huge movie star. There are countless bootleg “simulations” that show Evo doing just about everything a person could want him to do, and so when a sim appears that shows Evo dumping a body, it’s fairly easy to prove that it wasn’t Evo. Except Evo keeps pretending like it was him, and Detective MacEvoy finds he has a PR nightmare to contend with in addition to a messy murder investigation.
I loved the ideas that Armstrong created for In the Face, and she does an outstanding job of not letting them overwhelm the narrative. The book is a perfect blend of LA Confidential and Neuromancer, a quick and dirty read that has me hoping Armstrong is hard at work on her next book.
2 comments:
Update on your book status -- with all of the technology available, the book distribution systems used today remain mind-boggling in their complexity and nearly humorous processes. Nevertheless, your books are someplace between IPG (Iota's distributor) and the booksellers. Amazon has received them, but they may not be reflecting online yet. Other bookstores may take another week or so, depending on their distribution spaghetti. Sorry for the frustration, but wheels are grinding...ever so slowly.
Iota Publishing --
I am trying to resist checking on Amazon every thirty minutes.
Okay, every ten minutes.
Amazon is returning my interest by canceling pre-orders, but I am hoping for the best.
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