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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Above average thriller ... but not an easy read, 4 Aug 2005
Kerr's futuristic police officer and police state may have seemed a bold vision of social change in the early 1990's when he was writing this novel, but there are aspects of it which have become chillingly realistic in recent years.Kerr sets his work in the second decade of the 21st century. It is a Britain which has definitely gone hard on crime and hard on the causes of crime, with police routinely armed, long-term prisoners subjected to suspended, but conscious animation in a chemical induced coma, and the Lombroso project mapping the interior configuration of the human brain (not the bumps on the skull) to predict who is most likely to commit violent crime and therefore be in a position to offer pre-emptive treatment and surveillance. Jake is a Chief Inspector, educated, urbane, feminist, and concerned with the murder of women. She is, however, diverted to the task of catching the man who seems to be serially killing those who have been identified as positive risks by Lombroso, a man who seems to have a sophisticated, if ironic, appreciation of philosophy ... and a very practical knowledge of computers. What follows is a cerebral thriller in which the dissection of philosophical paradigms and the meaning of meaning within the mind of the killer become significant threads in the denouement of the novel. At times well-paced and gripping, at others somewhat overburdened by its philosophical nuances and allusions (not least in terms of occasional blocks of exposition which slow the flow), this remains a highly entertaining work ... though hardly light reading. Kerr's vision of the future is a courageous one, one which transforms the conventional image of liberal Britain into one of a nation fixated with crime and determined to treat 'criminal' as pariahs, excusing virtually any level of state violence and intrusion. It is, as I alluded above, becoming disturbingly too close for comfort - but then, I spent a long time as a Probation Officer and there are others who might regard Kerr's vision as a blueprint for the promised land. Kerr's concept of the feminist officer is not of an isolated individual in a male world - a theme which is regularly overdone (and not without reason) in crime fiction. Rather Kerr takes a step into a feminist criminology, which is generating variable analyses of and assessment of males and females and the differential nature of crimes committed by either or against either. That is an interesting and sophisticated area of enquiry - warranting greater statistical, political, and philosophical investigation. However, having created this feminist 'gynocop', Kerr does fall into something of a stereotypical trap - she's big, she's beautiful, she's bright, she can handle herself in a fight, but she's single and has a very confused perspective on her own sexuality. Poor girl, too busy with her career to be able to handle a man and a family? It begins to look like a conventional way of giving a woman flaws - hit her below the belt and imply the only thing she worries about each month is her next promotion. A complex, at times highly complex novel, and one which has its flaws - the ending is not particularly satisfying, the police are just a tad too stereotypical in places, and there are a couple of aspects of the super-killer's personality and behaviour which don't quite seem to gel. But, overall, an entertaining page-turner which is well worth the effort, and which does, for once, pose real philosophical questions about the nature of policing and criminology.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Above average thriller ... but not an easy read, 5 Aug 2005
Kerr's futuristic police officer and police state may have seemed a bold vision of social change in the early 1990's when he was writing this novel, but there are aspects of it which have become chillingly realistic in recent years.Kerr sets his work in the second decade of the 21st century. It is a Britain which has definitely gone hard on crime and hard on the causes of crime, with police routinely armed, long-term prisoners subjected to suspended, but conscious animation in a chemical induced coma, and the Lombroso project mapping the interior configuration of the human brain (not the bumps on the skull) to predict who is most likely to commit violent crime and therefore be in a position to offer pre-emptive treatment and surveillance. Jake is a Chief Inspector, educated, urbane, feminist, and concerned with the murder of women. She is, however, diverted to the task of catching the man who seems to be serially killing those who have been identified as positive risks by Lombroso, a man who seems to have a sophisticated, if ironic, appreciation of philosophy ... and a very practical knowledge of computers. What follows is a cerebral thriller in which the dissection of philosophical paradigms and the meaning of meaning within the mind of the killer become significant threads in the denouement of the novel. At times well-paced and gripping, at others somewhat overburdened by its philosophical nuances and allusions (not least in terms of occasional blocks of exposition which slow the flow), this remains a highly entertaining work ... though hardly light reading. Kerr's vision of the future is a courageous one, one which transforms the conventional image of liberal Britain into one of a nation fixated with crime and determined to treat 'criminal' as pariahs, excusing virtually any level of state violence and intrusion. It is, as I alluded above, becoming disturbingly too close for comfort - but then, I spent a long time as a Probation Officer and there are others who might regard Kerr's vision as a blueprint for the promised land. Kerr's concept of the feminist officer is not of an isolated individual in a male world - a theme which is regularly overdone (and not without reason) in crime fiction. Rather Kerr takes a step into a feminist criminology, which is generating variable analyses of and assessment of males and females and the differential nature of crimes committed by either or against either. That is an interesting and sophisticated area of enquiry - warranting greater statistical, political, and philosophical investigation. However, having created this feminist 'gynocop', Kerr does fall into something of a stereotypical trap - she's big, she's beautiful, she's bright, she can handle herself in a fight, but she's single and has a very confused perspective on her own sexuality. Poor girl, too busy with her career to be able to handle a man and a family? It begins to look like a conventional way of giving a woman flaws - hit her below the belt and imply the only thing she worries about each month is her next promotion. A complex, at times highly complex novel, and one which has its flaws - the ending is not particularly satisfying, the police are just a tad too stereotypical in places, and there are a couple of aspects of the super-killer's personality and behaviour which don't quite seem to gel. But, overall, an entertaining page-turner which is well worth the effort, and which does, for once, pose real philosophical questions about the nature of policing and criminology.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wholly and Completely Under-Rated, 3 Mar 2008
Curses! Foiled by the various publications. Just today, I recommended this book to a fellow reviewer, having reviewed it myself a year and half ago or so. To my consternation, I discovered I'd reviewed another (unknown) version... meanwhile this incredible book is being undeservedly lambasted right and left.
The version I read was given away with some mens' magazine. No clue how I got a hold of a copy, to be honest. But it was a good day. I always think it's slightly obnoxious when people review all the different versions of the same thing, with the same review. But to see such a wonderful book not have the support it so richly deserves is dreadful, so from here on, it'll be an updated (obnoxious) same review...
It's inexplicable to me that it was given away free with a magazine and *still* hardly anyone has read it. It's, essentially, a murder mystery, but it's so much more than that.
It is set in the near-ish future, where future-ness seamlessly blends with modernity to create an utterly believable society - one which, post 9/11 and 7/7, is becoming increasingly real as the days go by. It has *precisely* the right proportion of now-stuff, and what-will-be-stuff. Its descriptions are crisp, fresh, and clean, almost to the point where just by reading about that world you can breathe easier.
However, it's bordering on a dystopia - without the clichés - and the plot centres around a deeply intelligent, highly philosophical, oddly sympathetic killer. Much of the book is written in the 1st person from his (or her. Ha!) perspective and the reader is drawn in to this world absolutely.
Without giving too much away, this is less a whodunit, more a whydeydodatden? The story is inspired and intelligent; the execution of it is fantastic, and the fact that it's so under-rated is a tragedy. If you like your books well above par, this is the badger for you.
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