New Hopeland was built to be the centre of the technological age, but like everywhere else, it has its dark side. Assassins, drug dealers and crooked businessmen form a vital part of the city’s make-up, and sometimes, the police are in too deep themselves to be effective. But hey, there are always other options … investigate the death of a local VR addict named Eddie Redwood, she thinks it’ll be easy money. All she has to do is prove to the deceased’s sister Lori that the local P.D. were right to call it an accidental overdose. The more she digs though, the more things don’t seem to sit right, and soon, Cassie finds herself knee deep in a murder investigation. But that’s just the start of her problems.
When the case forces Cassie to make contact with her drug dealing ex-girlfriend, Charlie Goldman, she’s left with a whole lot of long buried personal issues to deal with. Then there’s her client. Lori Redwood is a Tech Shifter, someone who uses a metal exoskeleton to roleplay as an animal. Cassie isn’t one to judge, but the Tech Shifting community has always left her a bit nervous. That wouldn’t be a problem if Lori wasn’t fast becoming the first person that she’s been genuinely attracted to since splitting with Charlie. Oh, and then there’s the small matter of the police wanting her to back off the case.
Easy money, huh? Yeah, right.
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The character’s mind tends to wander and mine does too. I keep having to bring myself back to the task at hand. It is an interesting storyline but for some reason I can’t get my teeth into it Why I couldn’t concentrate…don’t know? Was it the book? Was it me? You will need to find out for yourself. That being said…here I go…
The technology, the Addicts, the corruption of law enforcement are themes that attract me and I love that I didn’t guess the answers.
Cassie has had more than her own Glock staring into her face. She is a private investigator and danger seems to knock on her door all too frequently. This time it brought HER, who Cassie was quickly drawn to.
I keep drifting, losing focus, but I did enjoy the story and I did get involved with the characters. It took me a while to figure out what was going on with the techies.
I do love a fearless character, with a big gun, and she’s not afraid to use it.
Even though I faced some difficulty keeping my mind on Cassie’s dilemma, I will be reading more of this series and I am looking forward to it.
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I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Addict by Matt Doyle.
RATING: 4.5 stars
When I was studying English Extension as a Year 12 student, we spent the year focused on a genre study of crime fiction. One of our set texts was Marele Day’s The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender, a gritty urban crime fiction written in a very traditional style, but with a unique (for the time) female protagonist. The reason I bring this up, is that I couldn’t help thinking about that book quite a lot whilst I was reading ADDICT. You need to ignore the GoodReads ratings of Day’s book, because it’s been skewed heavily by resentful teenagers who were tired of the book after studying it. It’s dated now (over 30 years later), but Harry Lavender infused pre-WWII crime fiction conventions with fresh, contemporary elements of gender, as well as a real sense of place, with the city of Sydney treated as a character in its own right.
Matt Doyle’s ADDICT, though a rather different beast from Harry Lavender, is intelligent and fresh in much the same way Day’s book was in the late 80s. A crime is committed and, of course, as time goes on, our detective is led through a series of twists and turns to finally lead her to a thrilling conclusion, where all the puzzle pieces fall into place – a satisfying conclusion is provided, as you’d expect from a detective story.
Set in the near future, Addict combines the engrossing, tenebrous elements of 1930s noir crime fiction with the spectacle and possibility of science fiction. Cassie Tam is, in many ways, a traditional sleuth protagonist, right down to the glock, the dingy apartment, and the social isolation. But Cassie also has a metallic gargoyle as her security guard, and has to delve into the nefarious world of technology addiction as a means to solve the case at the heart of the story. Her client also happens to be a Tech Shifter, someone who uses specially designed machinery to transform into an animal as a form of escapism. Cool, right?
The characters are engaging and memorable, slowly building relationships and inviting us into their psyches. Given this is the first story of a series, the characterisation has been handled well. There’s a sweet romance developing by the end of the book, but it hasn’t been explored so much as to make subsequent books almost pointless, Doyle has left space to move with the romance — a wise move, I think!
Setting and atmosphere are amongst the strongest elements of ADDICT. By the end of the novel, I felt connected to the city of New Hopeland. I understood its history, its evolution, and its almost fetishist underbelly, where even crime is driven by zealotry. I’d have no reservations recommending this book!
***REVIEWED FOR CELESTIAL BOOKS***
I am always on the lookout for new authors, and I think I found one. This book was well-written, had a good plot, and very interesting characters. I liked how this book had a really different look at an interesting futuristic world, one I would like to have gotten to know a little better, but maybe in future books. While this takes place in the future, it isn’t too far out of reach to feel different than today or to be too complicated, something I worry about not liking in sci-fi genres. Not only were the characters interesting, they were diverse, something fiction could use more of. Add to that, we had a non-stop action plot, with a mystery that wasn’t too simple. Everything came to together to form a great book, and I really enjoyed it from the beginning to end and I can’t wait to read more! Highly recommend! I was provided the e-book which I voluntarily reviewed.
Matt Doyle has penned a fabulous, fun and creative Sci-Fi thriller, murder mystery that had me glued to the book from start to finish. Addict is my first read from Matt Doyle and I am very happy I was able to read this series. It’s the first book in the Cassie Tam Files, and with a start like this, the series is bound to be fantastic.
Cassandra Tam, a.k.a. Caz, is a P.I., and she is absolutely kickass. She is quite the daredevil with her bold personality and I loved her. Bert, her sidekick, a metallic gargoyle A.I. is a protective friend. I loved his character!
As I said, this story had me glued to the pages. I read it in one sitting because of its fast-paced plot. The world building is marvelous, although slightly confusing at times, and the mystery was surprising.
I recommend this book for sure. Fans of Sci-Fi will be happy!
*Thank you to the author for providing me with a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.*