Amazon.co.uk Review
Gridlinked is the talented Neal Asher's first full-length SF novel, an accomplished rapid-action thriller crammed with high technology, obsessed characters, and the glittering boys' toys of advanced weaponry.
Cormac is a legendary Earth Central Security agent, the James Bond of a wealthy future where "runcible" transmitters allow interstellar travel in an eye blink. Unfortunately Cormac is nearly burnt out, "gridlinked" to the AI net so long that his humanity has drained away. He has to take the cold turkey cure and shake his addiction to instant online access, even while investigating the unique runcible disaster that's wiped out the entire human colony on planet Samarkand in a 30 megaton explosion ...
Hot on Cormac's heels is vengeful terrorist Pelter, backed up by his unstoppable, psychotic android killer "Mr Crane" and a goon squad of mercenaries. Other trouble has been brewing since 27 years earlier, when Cormac was humanity's ambassador to a vast, incomprehensible alien that called itself Dragon. Deep beneath Samarkand's surface there are buried mysteries, fiercely guarded. And is it true that Cormac's enigmatic boss is an immortal who's lived half a millennium and was born in the 20th century?
Asher's galaxy is full of colour and sleaze, and his story rattles along at speed. There are surprises, double-crosses, elaborate lies to be seen through, astonishing escapes from certain death, and last-minute reversals. Though the ultimate fates of the lesser villains seem mildly anticlimactic, the true bad guy is dealt with in spectacular style. Sequels are hinted. Fast-moving, edge-of-the-seat entertainment. --David Langford
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
This is a remarkable piece of SF writing: ambitious, dizzyingly imaginative and not in thrall to any of its predecessors in the SF genre (a rare enough accomplishment in itself). The plot is complex and intriguing. The runcible buffers on Samarkand have been mysteriously sabotaged, killing many thousands and destroying a terraforming object. Agent Cormac must reach it by ship to begin an investigation. But Cormac has incurred the wrath of a vicious psychopath called Pelter, who is prepared to follow him across the galaxy with a terrifying android in tow. Despite the sub-zero temperature of Samarkand, Cormac discovers signs of life: two alien beasts contrived by an extra-galactic entity calling itself 'Dragon'. Caught between the byzantine wiles of the Dragon and the lethal fury of Pelter, Cormac has to rescue the Samarkand project before his own life is in too much danger. Apart from the vigorous imagination deployed in the plotting, Asher is particularly canny at realizing the details of his invented worlds: this is a workaday, grubby series of locales, as convincing in its down-to-earth detail as in the super-science that is the engine of the plot. Another welcome ingredient is the sardonic wit - this sharp and knowing writing is worlds away from the sophomoric humour that bedevils the genre. This is one for any respectable SF library. (Kirkus UK)
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