Isobel is a heaven architect, one of the best.
Her job, in a time not far off, is to craft virtual heavens that will combine
the memories of (usually) dying clients with key brain cells extracted after
their death to enable a consciousness to continue in an eternally pleasurable
state – heaven indeed.
She falls for a client and creates memories
that will last beyond his too soon demise. But when he is suspected of
committing a violent crime hours before his death, there is only one way to
prove his innocence: for Isobel to enter his heaven and look for unwanted
memories that may lurk there. And it is vital that he is cleared, as criminals
are not allowed a heaven; sentencing goes beyond life here.
Murky waters are stirred. The ethics of the
infant heaven architecture industry are lagging behind the technology; the law
is even further behind, but its enforcers are very interested. The future
setting is credible with driverless transport, eye-lens videos, and
subcutaneous chip communications. And there are plot twists not to be spoilt
here.
It is all narrated in the first person by
Isobel, so we know only what she knows and share her doubts and fears about
people and events around her. That makes for an intense reading experience, for
her character is complex and interesting. After the intriguing first third, the
middle third flags slightly but is worth pushing through to the exciting and
frantic final section.
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