Book Number 40

Market Forces (2004) by Richard K. Morgan

Okay, ten books in 2 months is going to be tough but this one has sped me along.

Number 40 came in a shipment of 2005 libros from Olman's book blog. It's a cyberpunk sci-fi that manages to take the genre and, by force of it's well developed and original ideas, run it's own path.

The story concerns a young brash executive who has sold out all his values to succeed in his corporate world. He still has internal misgivings and his wife is wondering where the man she met has gone. Don't think that this is a domestic book though, because the story exists in a greedy cracked-up future. Junior executives working for giant financial concerns will take on and challenge their superiors with armored Saabs, BMWs and Rovers. The company that the hero works for invests in domestic wars in exchange for a cut of the victors GDP. The moral dilemmas raised drive this story forward.

This was an extremely fun read. The author has come up with fantastical ideas but also created a fully developed world. I agree with Olman's review which mentioned the good interplay between fast paced action and the political intrigues that occur here. The first car war on London's M4 was sweet. I did have a bit of a problem with the main characters interactions with his wife. They fight a lot in the book and I found that somewhat grating.

This is a good contemporary author to discover and you'll want to read his others. I picked up his Altered Carbon at the local used bookstore the other day. Perhaps it will make it into 50 for '05!