DEATH OF A CLONE

RELEASED OUT NOW! 272 pages | Paperback/ebook

Author alex thomson Publisher abaddon Books

Sci-fi murder mysteries have been around for decades, and there’s something about the idea of a spacebound whodunnit that’s immediately attention-grabbing. Debut author Alex Thomson tries to channel this pulpy charm with the clunkily-titled Death Of A Clone, but the end result is never quite as thrilling or satisfying as it should be.

Set deep in the Asteroid Belt, the story follows Leila, one of several groups of clones bred to work in a mining facility on a resource-rich asteroid known as Hell. When Leila’s identical clone-sister Lily is found dead, the facility’s human bosses are keen to dismiss the death as just an accident – but Leila is convinced that Lily has been murdered, and uses her knowledge of Agatha Christie mysteries to set out and start her own investigation…

A deliberately old-school exploration of where genetic engineering could take us, the novel starts well but struggles to maintain a sense of momentum, settling into a decidedly sluggish pace. Thomson is at his best when focusing on his dogged protagonist and the mechanics of the murder mystery, and weakest when trying to add depth to the two-dimensional supporting cast. Stilted dialogue and some excessively selfconscious Christie references don’t help, leaving this as a flawed whodunnit that never quite fulfils the potential of its central concept.