Body Politic

After decades of death and destruction, the citizens of the city-state of Edinburgh finally feel safe at the cost of their identities and individualism. Still, most residents feel the price is worth it as crime has finally come to a virtual end. Everyone works towards the common good by making sure the tourists stay long attending the perpetual Festival. It is top rate, an incentive they will return.By 2020, murder remains at zero for the past few years. However, that changes when ENT (the Ear, Nose, and Throat man) returns to kill a guardswoman. The desperate ruling body, the Council of the City Guardians, turns to private investigator Quintilan Dalyrmple, an outcast who has experience with the long thought dead ENT. Quint quickly learns he has more to deal with than just capturing a serial killer. He must contend with the bloated bureaucracy and the corrupt Council.BODY POLITIC is a fabulous science fiction who-done-it that brings freshness to several sub-genres. The superb story line fascinatingly repaints Edinburgh, turning the background into a critical character. Quint is the quintessential hard boiled detective trapped by a society that has no room for him when things are "normal." When trouble occurs, they send him to the firing line. If successful (meaning survives), he receives his gold-plated watch and sent back to live among the dregs. Futuristic mysteries have rarely been as good as Paul Johnston's superbly unique novel.Harriet Klausner

I have read this novel over a year ago after it won the Creasey award which is the British equivalent of the Edgar Award for best first novel. I found it to be refreshingly differnt and well thought out. Edinburgh in 2020 is actually based on Plato's Republic and starkly shows us the problem with this system. It is, in a sense, a science fiction novel on the order of Bladerunner in that the reader enters a truly different world. The book is well paced full of fascinating characters. I give a high grade, as well, to the novel's unique and original premise. Its well worth your time. Larry Gandle

After decades of death and destruction, the citizens of thecity-state of Edinburgh finally feel safe at the cost of theiridentities and individualism. Still, most residents feel the price is worth it as crime has finally come to a virtual end. Everyone works towards the common good by making sure the tourists stay long attending the perpetual Festival. It is top rate, an incentive they will return.By 2020, murder remains at zero for the past few years. However, that changes when ENT (the Ear, Nose, and Throat man) returns to kill a guardswoman. The desperate ruling body, the Council of the City Guardians, turns to private investigator Quintilan Dalyrmple, an outcast who has experience with the long thought dead ENT. Quint quickly learns he has more to deal with than just capturing a serial killer. He must contend with the bloated bureaucracy and the corrupt Council.BODY POLITIC is a fabulous science fiction who-done-it that brings freshness to several sub-genres. The superb story line fascinatingly repaints Edinburgh, turning the background into a critical character. Quint is the quintessential hard boiled detective trapped by a society that has no room for him when things are "normal." When trouble occurs, they send him to the firing line. If successful (meaning survives), he receives his gold-plated watch and sent back to live among the dregs. Futuristic mysteries have rarely been as good as Paul Johnston's superbly unique novel.