Dore Konstantin is officer in charge of TechnoCrime, Artificial Reality Division and, as if handling a heavy case-load almost single-handed wasn't enough, she's now got a stalker to deal with.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Dervish is Digital
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Book Description
Dore Konstantin is officer in charge of TechnoCrime, Artificial Reality Division and, as if handling a heavy case-load almost single-handed wasn't enough, she's now got a stalker to deal with.Extremely wealthy Hasting Dervish is the stalker according to Susannah Ell -- and she should know. Firstly, she's the one being stalked; secondly, she used to be married to Dervish. Worse, Susannah claims he's swapped places with an ambitious AI, and now Dervish has all the processing power he needs to infiltrate every line of code in Susannah's AR design studio. Meanwhile the AI is using Dervish's body as a base to visit AR, and hanging out in the gambling casinos of the Lowdown Hong Kong mound. This is where Goku of a Japanese law-enforcement agency, comes in. Since he likes going into AR in the persona of a nine-year-old kid, this really makes Konstantin unhappy. But if she's going to get the goods on Hastings Dervish, she'll have to deal with Goku.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From the Author
A detective/science fiction novel set in Artificial Reality.
The following is the jacket copy (publisher's description) for Dervish is Digital.
The following is the jacket copy (publisher's description) for Dervish is Digital.
Detective Lieutenant Doré Konstantin is up against it. And she still can't find the fabled Out Door.
Konstantin is Chief Officer in charge of TechnoCrime, Artificial Reality Division. In fact, she is the AR Division - unless you count her subordinates, Celestine and DiPietro. Most of the time, Konstantin doesn't count them, and puts them on loan to auto crime. Now, as if handling her heavy case load almost single-handed weren't enough, she's got a stalker to deal with.
Hasting Dervish, who's so rich he lives in the Key West enclave, where all legal records are sealed and the local police are bought and sold, is the stalker. At least, that's what Susannah Ell claims, and she should know. Two reasons: first, she's the one being stalked; second, she used to be married to Dervish. Worse, Susannah says Dervish is a race traitor - to the human race. He's swapped places with an ambitious AI, and now Dervish has all the processing power he needs to infiltrate every line of code in Susannah's AR design studio. And the AI? It's using Dervish's body as a base to visit AR, hanging out in the gambling casinos of the Lowdown Hong Kong mound.
Which is where the guys from the East/West Precinct, a Japanese law enforcement agency, come in. Specifically, Goku, who often likes to go into AR in the persona of a nine year old kid. Which really makes Konstantin unhappy. But if she's going to get the goods on Hastings Dervish, she'll have to deal with Goku.
Pat Cadigan, two-time winner of the Arthur C Clarke Award for best science fiction novel of the year, introduced us to Doré Konstantin in Tea from an Empty Cup, which Salon magazine called "a tightly plotted, crisply written novel that fits the classic noir mystery template set down by the likes of Raymond Chandler more comfortably than anything William Gibson has ever written". If you felt the way Salon did about Konstantin first time out, you're going to love her second case. Fast, funny, packed with brilliant ideas, it's how crime investigations are going to be the day after tomorrow. Get ahead of the game - mug up on it now.
Dervish is Digital will be published as a "C Format" (trade) paperback. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Jane Aland
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
This is a direct sequel to Cadigan's 'Tea From An Empty Cup', and once again features Police Officer Konstantin investigating a bizarre crime in artificial (ie: virtual) reality, this time involving claims of brainwashing around a casino and a woman who claims to be being stalked by her ex-husband who has swapped places with an aritificial intelligence.
As with 'Tea From An Empty Cup' this is a short but intense science fiction novel, though perhaps a slightly more fluid read as Cadigan dispenses with the split narrative of before to concentrate on building up her main characters for what is now obviously intended to be an open-ended series. It must be admitted that the inconclusive ending - full of hints and insinuations but nothing concrete - isn't hugely satisfying, but then again it's entirely in keeping with the ongoing theme of the impossibility of knowing what is real and what isn't in an artificial world. A disorientating but enjoyable read.
As with 'Tea From An Empty Cup' this is a short but intense science fiction novel, though perhaps a slightly more fluid read as Cadigan dispenses with the split narrative of before to concentrate on building up her main characters for what is now obviously intended to be an open-ended series. It must be admitted that the inconclusive ending - full of hints and insinuations but nothing concrete - isn't hugely satisfying, but then again it's entirely in keeping with the ongoing theme of the impossibility of knowing what is real and what isn't in an artificial world. A disorientating but enjoyable read.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
I have to admit to having spent hours hunting down Cadigan titles (back in the days before Amazon existed)... Dervish is Digital follows on from Tea From An Empty Cup and is based around the same main character.
There is a dissonance to Cadigan's prose that comes, I think, from refusing to give her readers what they want - simplicity and straight forward story lines. This makes it difficult for the reader but is also one of Cadigan's strengths. Her books often just end, refusing the easy option of neatness, and while not quite so marked as in TFAEC, Dervish is Digital does this.
I loved this book but then I loved TFAEC and Chief Officer Konstantin is a character I want to see more off and sooner rather than later. Here's to the next one!
Format:Kindle Edition
Pat Cadigan has written a novel where cyberpunk and police noir meet. It is a perfect match. Cyberpunk has always been a genre peopled by low-lives and infused with a sense of lawlessness. The boundaries of "noir" become limitless in a on-line world where virtually anything is possible (or is that anything is virtually possible).
Officer Konstantin works in and underfunded, understaffed Artificial Reality division. In a manner reminiscent of the classic Red Dwarf episode "Back to reality" she spends her frustrated days in a sensory body suit which gives her access to the computer created world where she fights against crime which may not even be crime in the real world. Her main playground is a virtual Hong Kong, a mass of illegal gambling, cyber-perversion and illicit arms dealing. She is approached by a fashion designer Susannah Ell, who claims that her ex-husband Hastings Dervish has moved into the digital realm and is stalking her on-line. In her pursuit of Dervish Konstantin is helped and hindered by drug dealing cops, Japanese law enforcers and various partners and ex partners.
Cadigan, as her entries in the Mirror-shades and Re-wired anthologies show, has always been one of the more intriguing of the cyberpunk authors. This novel is absolutely bursting with ideas and speculative concepts such as the immediate corruption of new technologies to all possible varieties of vice, the development of super rich gated communities beyond the reach of the nation state, and an exploration of the actual nature of crime in a virtual world. Also her description of an almost hallucinogenic on-line world, which is both anarchistic and fully controlled by commercial interests is highly convincing.
So, the book's strengths are the description of, and an exploration of the issues raised by, an online world, its weakness is the plot. The plot is pretty flimsy and the denouement unsatisfying.
So this is an enjoyable work, but not the greatest story ever told.
Officer Konstantin works in and underfunded, understaffed Artificial Reality division. In a manner reminiscent of the classic Red Dwarf episode "Back to reality" she spends her frustrated days in a sensory body suit which gives her access to the computer created world where she fights against crime which may not even be crime in the real world. Her main playground is a virtual Hong Kong, a mass of illegal gambling, cyber-perversion and illicit arms dealing. She is approached by a fashion designer Susannah Ell, who claims that her ex-husband Hastings Dervish has moved into the digital realm and is stalking her on-line. In her pursuit of Dervish Konstantin is helped and hindered by drug dealing cops, Japanese law enforcers and various partners and ex partners.
Cadigan, as her entries in the Mirror-shades and Re-wired anthologies show, has always been one of the more intriguing of the cyberpunk authors. This novel is absolutely bursting with ideas and speculative concepts such as the immediate corruption of new technologies to all possible varieties of vice, the development of super rich gated communities beyond the reach of the nation state, and an exploration of the actual nature of crime in a virtual world. Also her description of an almost hallucinogenic on-line world, which is both anarchistic and fully controlled by commercial interests is highly convincing.
So, the book's strengths are the description of, and an exploration of the issues raised by, an online world, its weakness is the plot. The plot is pretty flimsy and the denouement unsatisfying.
So this is an enjoyable work, but not the greatest story ever told.
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