Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
This noir novella will be a surprise for Scalzi's fans, who are used to his relatively sunny Heinleinesque yarns. Here he deftly extrapolates how people in a near-future society would adjust to one enormous change in the basic facts of human life: unaccountably but inescapably, death is no longer permanent. Specifically, humans who die naturally or commit suicide stay dead, but those who are murdered revive. Therefore, to save lives, government "dispatchers" are appointed to kill people who are about to die. Dispatcher Tony Valdez is comfortable with that role until the disappearance of a fellow dispatcher forces him to reconsider how his own grey-area activities have exploited the new rules of life and death. Prodded by Chicago police detective Nona Langdon, Valdez explores the many ingenious ways in which crime and social mores have adapted, and observes that human passions are unchanged. Readers will enjoy how Scalzi plays with this challenging "what-if" notion, and the novella length is perfect for a concept that would fall apart under increased scrutiny. Agent: Ethan Ellenberg, Ethan Ellenberg Agency. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
In the very near future, murder has become nearly impossible: for reasons unknown, anyone killed deliberately vanishes and re-appears, naked and unharmed, in their home. Death only happens by accident, old age, or illness. Tony Valdez is a Dispatcher-a professional licensed to mercy-kill those near death so they can be transported to safety. When a former colleague of Valdez's goes missing, he teams up with a Chicago police detective to uncover the truth. Every-one has something to hide in the short novella's world of billionaires, gangsters, and other suspects, and when murder is impossible, the villains just have to get creative. Narrator Zachary Quinto reads the story with a wry edge suited to Scalzi's twisted film-noir plot and dry humor. VERDICT Recommended for fans of the author and mystery readers who enjoy a dash of the paranormal.-Jason -Puckett, Georgia State Univ. Lib., Atlanta © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Award-winning sci-fi author Scalzi presents another gripping, thought-provoking tale, set in a world much like ours, where life and death have been turned inside out. Those who die of natural causes remain dead, but those killed by another person are resurrected within minutes, in bed, naked and confused, with the last eight to 40 hours of trauma erased. Tony Valdez is a Dispatcher, licensed, bonded, insured, and psychoanalyzed by the Agency to humanely kill people who are at immediate risk of death. When the police coerce Valdez into helping them find a missing Dispatcher, it becomes apparent that Valdez does not always play by the rules. The story deftly explores the ambiguous morality of dispatching, its use and abuse, and its effects on those dispatched. Valdez is an appealing antihero-smart, maybe too smart, and laconic. Teens will devour this slim, riveting novella in a single sitting. -VERDICT For sci-fi lovers, especially those who appreciate books that pose moral and ethical questions, such as Neal Shusterman's Unwind and Scythe or Suzanne Collins's "Hunger Games" series.-Gretchen Crowley, formerly at Alexandria City Public Library, VA © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Previously produced solely as an audiobook, this noir novellanow available as an illustrated textoffers a unique wrinkle on a popular science-fiction trope.About 10 years ago, a strange thing happened to the world: almost any time people were murdered, they began showing up naked in their homes, their bodies reset to a state a few hours before any injury occurred. Today, we have Dispatchers: professionals licensed to painlessly kill people dying from botched operations, car accidents, and the like, eliminating the negative consequences as if they had never been. When Dispatcher Jimmy Albert vanishes under suspicious circumstances, Chicago Police Detective Nona Langdon calls upon fellow Dispatcher (and our narrator) Tony Valdez to help her pursue the case, which ultimately leads to a wealthy, well-connected man devastated by his wife's recent death from cancer. Along the way, Valdez reluctantly educates the detective about the seamy side of his profession: the less-than-legal, often grotesque, and extremely lucrative freelance work he's accepted in the past as well as the potential loopholes in the apparent near impossibility of murder. The resurrected dead has been a popular motif in the past few years, in both grisly and more literary explorations. Scalzi (The Collapsing Empire, 2017, etc.) pushes the potential of this admittedly contrived scenario to its logical limits with dark humor while hanging a lampshade on several noir clichs. A what-if tale reminiscent of Asimov at his twistiest. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
