Jake August is a young agent of Homeland Security who has just been welcomed into a special subsection devoted to investigating crimes committed by replican- errr, synthetics. Synths have been integrated into society as intelligent, humanoid tools oriented toward a particular purpose, and it appears that one of them has just crushed the heart of a US senator — quite literally. A synth shouldn’t be able to perpetuate deliberate murder: at most, his new department has dealt with synths which were malfunctioning because of technical issues — like a cleaning synth deciding that the easiest way to keep the house clean was to remove the elements (i.e. the humans) that kept cluttering it up. And yet, as August and his new partner Shelli (named for Mary Shelley, naturally) discover, this latest murder was no accident. The senator was investigating the unsanctioned manufacture of experimental synths whose functionality went far beyond those approved by regulation, and it appears someone wanted her out of the picture August has never even fired a gun before, but now he’s a field agent who will soon be in trouble well over his head.. The deeper the investigation goes, the more trouble Shelli and August find for themselves — and that trouble is coming from behind them, too, because higher ups in the government aren’t too enthused about the direction things are going, and as the story develops Jake has the sense that he can’t trust anyone — perhaps not even Shelli, for whom her Purpose is more important than anything else, like the law. What begins as a detective story with a cool premise turns into a techno action thriller that touches on themes like technohumanism and distributed intelligences. Given Shelli’s attributes — a machine-logical mind and a physical form that is arrestingly attractive– I immediately voiced her with Jeri Ryan, and I have a strong suspicion that Brode was drawing on her Seven of Nine, as well: she has two lines[*] that are word-for-word repeats of Seven’s dialogue. Granted, it could be a coincidence, but I choose to believe Brode is a major Trekkie and working in subtle references. This was a cool find: not groundbreaking conceptually, but it’s a fun action thriller in a SF setting.
Coming up: the Cuban missile crisis and a romantic memoir as though written by Sheldon Cooper.
Related:
Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, Robots of Dawn, Isaac Asimov. Very different era & tone, but this also features a human-android pairing, Elijah Baley and R.Daneel Olivaw. Listened to a superb audio drama based on it back in college.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Phillip K. Dick. Human detective tracking replicants.
Upgrade, Blake Crouch. Also touches on transhumanist themes.
[*] “I am undamaged,” and “Doctor, I require your assistance.”
Reading Freely 
Oh, Seven of Nine is such a great character. I only recently finished watching Voyager and it’s so fun when you see media referencing other media you love, I’m so glad you put the specific lines below because I was immediately curious lol! This read sounds kind of fun, I like stories that deal with themes of “what does it mean to be human?” Which is why Data is my forever favourite !
I’m going to be reading David Mack’s new Seven novel sooner than later — it bridges the Voyager homecoming with the Picard stuff. Not a fan of DSC/PIC, but Seven is a favorite and David Mack is probably the best writer Trek has at the moment — begging the pardon of Christopher Bennett and Kirsten Beyer. If you like Voyager, Beyer’s novels are wonderful. They begin with Full Circle.
I much prefer TNG to Voyager but I am glad I watched it as it was overall enjoyable. I’ll take a look at the novels you mentioned. I also know my husband disliked the new Picard show so I probably won’t watch that one ngl! But I am glad at least Star Trek has some good writers because that’s not always guaranteed with big and popular IPs!
PIC is dark, cynical, and depressing. The third season has the benefit of bringing the TNG crew together again, but even so I couldn’t finish it — not when the joy and energy of Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks are there!
Yes that settles it! if I want to watch dark and depressing Sci-Fi, I do not reach for Stark Trek. Love Lower Decks and even Prodigy. I will need to try Strange New Worlds then 🙂
Yes! Strange New Worlds! It reignited my passion for Trek. Great writing and acting, varied episodes…it was quality from the word “go”.
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thanks for the review— very much appreciated! Shelli just came out so I’m amazed you’ve already read it. FYI – Jake’s last name is August, not Bishop. And yes, I did think of Seven of Nine while writing Shelli, but her main influence was Spock in original show. Specifically the way he considered his emotions a hinderance. But Seven was also inspired by him, so the connection is there. Thanks again – Doug Brode
Whoops! Thanks for dropping by. I’ll make the correction, and I’m delighted that I was right (a little bit) in the Seven connection.
Actually, you got a TON right in your review. The themes and story which I was trying to tell was very well conveyed, without giving away any of the plot twists. Funny enough, I was a concept artist on JJ’s Star Trek reboot in 2009, having redesigned most of the weapons and props, so yeah. me a ST go way back. Thanks again–being a new indie author, it’s near impossible to get noticed, so I really appreciate you taking a chance on my book and writing the review. Cheers!
I’m just glad I spotted it on Kindle Unlimited. The cover helped. 😉
And on Star Trek — wow! Cool to meet someone with such a close connection to it.
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I really need to try this one
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