I'm not entirely sure what to make of this book. It's a lot of things; near-future dystopia, murder mystery, violent political thriller, tale of addiction and recovery and (partial) redemption. On most of these fronts it succeeds admirably. It starts slowly but builds up to become a gripping tale that kept me up half the night, desperate to find out what was going on. All the clues are there but the whole thing is baffling until the Agatha Christie style revelation (yes, revelation, not "reveal", ugh!) which is just what I want. I hate to be able to guess correctly in advance. Along the way there are several tense and/or exciting set-pieces. As usual with Simmons, the characters are well drawn, flawed and believable. But all of the above is avoiding what has proved to be the highly controversial element of the story; the dystopia.

THIS REVIEW HAS BEEN CURTAILED IN PROTEST AT GOODREADS' CENSORSHIP POLICY

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http://arbieroo.booklikes.com/post/908628/flashback-dan-simmons