Chris Brookmyre is not one of my favourite authors. He is one of only three authors that my husband reads. So every now and again, if I don’t have any books to read, I resort to reading one of Chris’. My husband suggested this one as it is quite different to his other books.
This book is set on a space station where hundreds of humans now reside building a colony ship – a ‘city in the sky’. This place is meant to be a Nirvana. The optimal living space where there is no crime and everyone is living peacefully. However, that is not the case. Alicia Blake is sent from Earth to investigate what is occurring and to investigate the deaths that start happening.
She teams up with the corrupt jaded cop – Nikki Freeman. Suffice to say they don’t get along, there are plenty of issues yet circumstances have them working together. Nikki is able to show Alicia the real Ciudad de Cielo. Throughout the book both characters learn from each other – one realising that rules sometimes need to be bent or broken, and the other developing a sense of morals and realising she can make a difference.
I will rate this book 2 stars. I found the descriptions of the space station and how it operates tedious – as I have little interest in this. I found some of the characters and their interactions to be terribly unbelievable. I was interested enough to finish reading the book, however it is not one I would recommend or ever read again. This may appeal to people interested in space or sci fi.
