Hardcover, 192 pages
Published April 29, 2021 by Subterranean.
Welcome to the new world, in which murder is all but a thing of the past. Because when someone kills you, 999 times out of 1,000, you instantly come back to life. In this world, there are dispatchers—licensed killers who step in when you’re at risk of a natural or unintentional death. They kill you—so you can live.
Tony Valdez is used to working his job as a dispatcher within the rules of the law and the state. But times are tough, and more and more Tony finds himself riding the line between what’s legal and what will pay his bills. After one of these shady gigs and after being a witness to a crime gone horribly wrong, Tony discovers that people around him are dying, for reasons that make no sense...and which just may implicate him.
Tony is out of time: to solve the mystery of these deaths, to …
Welcome to the new world, in which murder is all but a thing of the past. Because when someone kills you, 999 times out of 1,000, you instantly come back to life. In this world, there are dispatchers—licensed killers who step in when you’re at risk of a natural or unintentional death. They kill you—so you can live.
Tony Valdez is used to working his job as a dispatcher within the rules of the law and the state. But times are tough, and more and more Tony finds himself riding the line between what’s legal and what will pay his bills. After one of these shady gigs and after being a witness to a crime gone horribly wrong, Tony discovers that people around him are dying, for reasons that make no sense...and which just may implicate him.
Tony is out of time: to solve the mystery of these deaths, to keep others from dying, and to keep himself from being a victim of what looks like murder, by other means.
I kinda wish we'd had more background on what causes dispatching to work after the first of these, but enjoyed this a lot nonetheless.
Samlet anmeldelse af den her og bog to i serien:
Jeg er blevet lidt forelsket i Scalzi efter at have givet ham en lang pause. Hans Old Mans War er jo en klassiker (hans debut) og jeg læse lidt af ham den gang, men så glemte jeg ham...
The Dispatcher og Murder by Other Means er bog et og to i samme univers, hvor vi følger Tony der arbejder som Dispatcher. I en nær fremtid, sker der pludseligt det mærkeligt at folk som bliver dræbt, godt nok dør, men et øjeblik efter vågner de op i deres eget hjem uden men, og kan forsættet (og den dræbte krop forsvinder). Ingen ved hvorfor, og "reglerne" er lidt usikre, men 999 ud af 1000 gange overlever man altså hvis man bliver dræbt. Men man skal dræbes. Uheld, selvmord, sygdom tæller ikke. Og her kommer Tony (og hans andre Dispatcher kollegaer) så ind …
Samlet anmeldelse af den her og bog to i serien:
Jeg er blevet lidt forelsket i Scalzi efter at have givet ham en lang pause. Hans Old Mans War er jo en klassiker (hans debut) og jeg læse lidt af ham den gang, men så glemte jeg ham...
The Dispatcher og Murder by Other Means er bog et og to i samme univers, hvor vi følger Tony der arbejder som Dispatcher. I en nær fremtid, sker der pludseligt det mærkeligt at folk som bliver dræbt, godt nok dør, men et øjeblik efter vågner de op i deres eget hjem uden men, og kan forsættet (og den dræbte krop forsvinder). Ingen ved hvorfor, og "reglerne" er lidt usikre, men 999 ud af 1000 gange overlever man altså hvis man bliver dræbt. Men man skal dræbes. Uheld, selvmord, sygdom tæller ikke. Og her kommer Tony (og hans andre Dispatcher kollegaer) så ind i billedet. Så hvis du fx skal igennem en farlig operation, så står Tony klar til at dræbe dig, hvis der skulle gå noget galt - så våger du op igen et øjeblik senere, og kan prøve en gang til.
Historierne er egentligt mest krimier, med det lille tvist nævnt overfor. Jeg læser ikke så mange krimier, så jeg ved ikke lige hvor det marked er i dag, men jeg kan ret godt lide kombien af en professionel politiperson og en karakter som Tony, der i et let ustabilt samarbejder går ud og prøver at fange nogle bad-guys. Den første bog er meget kort (nærmere en novelle) og mangler lidt dybde omkring de filosofiske aspekter af det hele, men i toere synes Scalzi af have fået tænkt lidt mere over implikationerne af døden-er-bogstaveligt-talt-en-udvej, og det hele bliver endnu mere interessant.
I wanted more of this world and like magic Scalzi granted it. This one was not as difficult to solve early as the last, but I like the world and the mystery. How does one commit murder when the murdered always come back? I also really like Quinto as the narrator. More please.
Tight, original and well written story.
