Body, Inc.
Del Rey, 290 pages, $13.00 (trade paperback)
iBooks, Kindle, Nook: $9.99 (e-book)
ISBN: 978-0-345-51199-7
Centuries from now, with the world an environmental ruin, personal genetic enhancement and nanotech implants are everywhere. In The Human Blend (reviewed in the May 2011 issue) we met wraith-thin lovable rogue Whispr and his friend, Dr. Ingrid Seastrom. Whispr accidentally acquired a silver data-thread that bears information about a powerful new technology, and Ingrid became his protector when dastardly forces pursued them.
Now Whispr and Ingrid are in Africa, in the territory of the South African Economic Combine (known officially as SAEC and colloquially as SICK). SICK, apparently the source of the data-thread, is the kind of evil corporate empire that we all love to hate. Whispr and Ingrid feel that they are close to the answers they seek.
Unfortunately, SICK’s ultra-enhanced sadistic assassin, Napul Molé, is on their trail. By escaping him in the last book, Whispr and Ingrid showed Molé up, and now he’s determined not just to catch them, but also to make them suffer.
It’s all great adventure, with sympathetic characters and solid speculative science.