One of Us [Paperback]

If you like the brain-stretching work of William Gibson (author of Neuromancer) and Philip K. Dick (author of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sleep?, which was the basis for Blade Runner), you'll feel right at home with this latest futuristic thriller from the author of the well-received Spares (available in paperback). It's 2017, and the first time we meet Hap Thompson he's being hassled in a bar in Ensenada by his alarm clock, which not only talks but walks and has a bad attitude. Hap, a prodigious computer hacker with a pretty bad attitude himself, works for an outfit called REMtemps, which offers a unique service--removing clients' bad dreams by sucking them into the heads of paid professionals. (Could Smith have been influenced at all by the title of one of Dick's best stories, "I Can Dream It for You Wholesale"?) Unfortunately, one of the bad dreams Hap is called on to swallow involves a real murder, and the search for the woman who dreamed it in the first place takes him--and us--on a literally mind-bending journey of scientific and philosophic discovery. But there's plenty of action, gadgetry, and snappy noir dialogue to make it all go down easily. --Dick Adler

Praise for Michael Marshall Smith:

‘Some books stretch the imagination; this one mugs it’
DAVID BADDIEL on Spares

‘A storytelling skill that can only be described as pure genius’
VENUE

‘Comic, cruel, twisted and surreal’
EMPIRE

‘Tense exciting and very, very funny… He’s worth every penny’
TIME OUT

‘Smith is a genuine talent to follow’
PUBLISHING NEWS

‘Marks him out as a name to watch’
THE TIMES

Praise for Michael Marshall Smith: 'Some books stretch the imagination; this one mugs it' DAVID BADDIEL on Spares 'A storytelling skill that can only be described as pure genius' VENUE 'Comic, cruel, twisted and surreal' EMPIRE 'Tense exciting and very, very funny! He's worth every penny' TIME OUT 'Smith is a genuine talent to follow' PUBLISHING NEWS 'Marks him out as a name to watch' THE TIMES

A mesmerising SF thriller from a master of the genre. Hap Thompson is a REMtemp, working the night hours, having people’s anxiety dreams for them. For the first time in his life, Hap’s making big money – and that should have been enough…

Hap Thompson has finally found something he can do better than anyone else. And it’s legal. Almost. Hap’s a REMtemp, working the night hours, having people’s anxiety dreams for them. For the first time in his life, Hap’s making big money – and that should have been enough.

But then Hap is made an offer he just can’t refuse: proxying memories instead of dreams. This is not almost illegal – this is illegal in bold with flashing lights. The last thing the cops want are criminals who can pass lie detector tests and Hap knows it, but he’s relying on the promise that he won’t have to carry anything that relates to a criminal offence. Big mistake. Before he knows what’s happening, Hap is locked in a vicious nightmare that threatens to tear his mind and his life apart…

And, as in all Michael Marshall Smith novels, that is just the start.

'ONE OF US' Michael Marshall Smith
Ever done anything you'd like to forget?
The thriller has just evolved

Out of memory…

Hap Thompson -ex-barman, ex-hood and ex-husband – has fallen on his feet at last. After years of scuffling in the shadows of crime, he's finally found something he can do better than anyone else. And it's legal. Almost.

Hap's a REMtemp, working the night hours, having people's dreams for them. Fro the first time in his life he is making big money – and that should have been enough. But then he's offered work caretaking memories instead of dreams. This is not almost illegal – this is illegal in bold with a flashing light.

One night Hap takes on a bigger memory than usual and the client disappears. As Hap pursues her, he comes to realise that something terrible lies at the end of this memory, something which threatens to rewrite not just his life, but the whole of history.

Hap Thompson is the one man who can maybe bring it all together. If he can just stay alive.

Praise for Michael Marshall Smith:

"No one writes better than Smith about love: how it's won, how it's lost. No one writes better about being wasted – by drugs, by drink, by time"
'i-D'

"Amusing and horrific, full of sharp asides and bitter commentary… Comic, cruel, twisted and surreal"
'EMPIRE'

"A storytelling skill that can only be described as pure genius"
'VENUE'

Michael Marshall Smith was born and raised – itinerantly – in the USA and the UK: his parents are academics. He has had two radio comedy series and a pilot TV series, and is currently working on screenplays for two feature films and the BBC adaptation of Clive Barker’s Weaveworld. Only Forward was his first novel, Spares his second. He is distressingly young.