2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining futuristic mystery, 31 July 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Body Politic (Mass Market Paperback)
After decades of death and destruction, the citizens of the city-state of Edinburgh finally feel safe at the cost of their identities and individualism. Still, most residents feel the price is worth it as crime has finally come to a virtual end. Everyone works towards the common good by making sure the tourists stay long attending the perpetual Festival. It is top rate, an incentive they will return.
By 2020, murder remains at zero for the past few years. However, that changes when ENT (the Ear, Nose, and Throat man) returns to kill a guardswoman. The desperate ruling body, the Council of the City Guardians, turns to private investigator Quintilan Dalyrmple, an outcast who has experience with the long thought dead ENT. Quint quickly learns he has more to deal with than just capturing a serial killer. He must contend with the bloated bureaucracy and the corrupt Council.
BODY POLITIC is a fabulous science fiction who-done-it that brings freshness to several sub-genres. The superb story line fascinatingly repaints Edinburgh, turning the background into a critical character. Quint is the quintessential hard boiled detective trapped by a society that has no room for him when things are "normal". When trouble occurs, they send him to the firing line. If successful (meaning survives), he receives his gold-plated watch and sent back to live among the dregs. Futuristic mysteries have rarely been as good as Paul Johnston's superbly unique novel.
Harriet Klausner
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I Thoroughly Enjoyed This Book...., 5 Feb 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Body Politic (Mass Market Paperback)
I found the character development to be excellent...I felt I got to know these characters and their thoughts, feelings and motivations. The story I found to be absolutely engrossing and forward-moving. In short, I really enjoyed this and have ordered the other three novels in this series.
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not just entertainment, a warning..., 11 May 2008
This review is from: Body Politic (Mass Market Paperback)
I read this book shortly after it was published. Now, in 2008, it does not require a great leap of the imagination to suggest aspects of Paul Johnson's dystopian future seem a few steps closer to becoming a not so distant reality. This book should serve as a warning as to what could happen if we conceed too much of our hard-earned liberty in return for greater 'safety' which is currently being slowly eroded through the proliferation of CCTV, the rights of the individual rapidly superceding the rights of the collective, possible introduction of ID cards etc. If you think some of the ideas in this book seem far fetched, 5 minutes of a 24 hour news channel should prove to be sobering viewing indeed. Those who watched the compelling 'The Last Enemy' series on BBC a few weeks back will know exactly what is at stake.
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