Synopses & Reviews
The year is 2020. Glynnis Rodman, brilliant and beautiful, a senior executive at MicroLink, one of the country's most powerful cyber companies, has been found dead in her apartment after an S&M encounter with a stranger. Veteran senior investigator Phil Gagliardi Jr., forty-two, bored, and recently divorced, is called to the scene. Computer analysis determines the cause of death to be cardiac arrest induced by an overdose of an illegal, orgasm-enhancing drug. Records prove that the drug had been supplied by the partner. The case seems to be open and shut, but Phil cannot get the image of the dead woman out of his mind. Despite skepticism within the department and pressure from higher-ups, he decides to investigate on his own. Phil soon learns that in the twenty-first century investigating a crime is not so easy. In a society where ColorMatch selects the contents of a clothes closet, ArtTech chooses wall decor, and an AccuStove prepares dinner, criminal analysis has been entirely entrusted to microchips. For the first time in years, Phil must solve a crime without help from machines, a skill that he has almost forgotten.
Synopsis
In a high-tech future America where computers do the thinking, one cop has the courage to search for justice -- in this terrifying thriller
Bitter over a prolonged divorce, longtime cop Phil Gagliardi welcomes any distraction, even an investigation into the death of a beautiful computer executive. The police computers finger a punk she met over the cybersex lines, and the case is closed.
Except that it doesn't ring true. Gagliardi knows he should ignore his instincts. Computers have eliminated the need for those, and people who think for themselves are regarded with suspicion. But when he finds evidence that someone has tampered with official records, he must use all the cunning he possesses to outwit the murderers -- human or cyber.
Everyone is a suspect, from the childlike genius who presides over the most high-tech computer firm in the nation to the beautiful executive he meets in a late-night chat room. There's the brilliant leader of the anti-technology movement and a sullen ex-executive with a chip on his shoulder.
Despite the evidence saying he's crazy, the body count keeps rising. But computers don't lie -- or do they?