THE SYNAPSE SEQUENCE

RELEASED OUT NOW! 371 pages | Paperback Author daniel Godfrey Publisher Titan Books

The Matrix meets Minority Report in this near-future tale, set in a world in which AIs have made the masses jobless and algorithms run the police force, deciding on the priority of cases based on probability scores.

An optimistic tech company is trying to prove to the police that its new invention, the Synapse Sequencer, can be of use to them; it recreates crime scenes virtually based on the memories of witnesses, taken directly from their brains. The police aren’t biting, so the company is delighted when a private detective enlists their help to discover why a youth has been beaten into a coma. Complicating matters is the fact that the woman assigned to the project is an ex-air crash investigator notorious for having made a decision that led to a war in which millions died.

The Synapse Sequence is hardly big on originality; in terms of its themes it would have felt like warmed-up leftovers had it been published in 2000. Even the plot twists have a nostalgically familiar feel for anyone who has seen or read a sci-fi conspiracy thriller in the past two decades. Having said that, it’s pacily written, with interesting, layered characters, plenty of action and a degree of wit.

You may not be gobsmacked by the revelations, but you might still enjoy the ride. Dave Golder