Review: Animus Paradox By Adam Bassett

Blurb:

There's a thief on the loose. The Tigres excel at tipping the scales in their favor, be it through bribes, politics, or blood. They unofficially run Viterbo, Italy—and somebody stole from them.

Private investigators David and Mafalda De Campo have been hired to help find the thief. They're in it for the money, but the Tigres just want to make a statement.

Meanwhile, the Heredes have returned: ruthless idealists and revolutionaries. It’s not clear what they’re up to, but they keep getting in the way.

The De Campos will need to decide how far they're willing to go for this job and the Tigres. Viterbo may soon become a battlefield, and one wrong move could set it aflame.

Review:

Welcome to a fast-paced cyberpunk adventure that hits the ground running from the very first chapter. It becomes clear early on that the focus of the novel is on guns-blazing John Wick style action, in a dystopic near–future Italian scene. In Adam’s world, violence is the lingua franca - guns, katanas, cyber warfare, augmentation, deception - whatever gets the job done is fair game.

‘Before, the sword had been a precision instrument. Now he moved like a butcher.’

This relatively short book brings together conflicts among government, revolutionary factions and the Italian mafia into a gripping page turner. Our protagonist, David, is an ex-soldier whose numerous military augmentations have been deactivated. Now, along with his wife Maf, he works as a private investigator solving cases for money. 

But this time, a contract that had started out as a mission to find a thief, turns into a much more complex adventure when a group of zealots suddenly resurface under a new leadership.

‘As unlucky as our alliance may be, I believe it may have been fate.’

While our hero is pining to wrap up things quick and go out riding in the sunset on a long-awaited vacation, we are waiting for the inevitable plot twist that results in his body augmentations getting activated. Needless to say, as the story moves forward at a breakneck pace, the stakes rise high, and we aren’t disappointed.

‘Careful, David. Optimism kills.’

The initial part mostly feels like a high-octane thriller. While I am certainly not complaining, it is in the later part that the futuristic aspects gain more prominence and make the story a lot more interesting. Adam’s writing captures the high-tech low-life cyberpunk aesthetic beautifully. I especially enjoyed the presentation of camera hopping, glamor-based deception and net diving. None of these are very novel concepts, but they fit together very well in the context of the story.

There is quite a lot that is packed into the relatively short story. The plot line has a few minor twists, but overall, it is not the kind that will leave you scratching your head. On the characters, we get just enough backstory to move forward with the plot. The pace at which things happen leaves very little room for slice-of-life meanderings.

Neither the technology is perfect, nor are the organizations nor the individuals. Their flaws come together to form an intriguing story that keeps you turning those pages.

‘Time seemed to slow down. The fighting faded together in David’s head, and his optics were still glitching. Bars of color muddled his vision.’

So if you enjoy futuristic action, this is the book for you. If you have loved cyberpunk thrillers before, you will almost certainly enjoy this. If not, this could be a good start.