THIRTEEN

Human-breeding experiments gone awry, faith-based prisons, cannibalism, and huge corporations controlling shadow governments. It's all taking place 100 years into the future in Morgan's darkly imagined, far-reaching, insightful novel. In this genre stew of science fiction, adventure, murder mystery, and noir, Simon Vance reads with commanding sureness, keeps the many English and Third-World accents distinct and listenable, and displays a wonderful vocal naturalism as he navigates through Morgan's inventive terms of the future. The bounty-hunting, genetically altered, brooding antihero, Carl Marsalis, takes on corrupt agencies and broken promises in graphic style. Further, Vance's poignant handling of Morgan's moving discussions of faith and mortality makes this book a one-of-a-kind experience. B.P. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/ SEP 07]