Whole Wide World (Paperback)

A fortyish detective in the London police department becomes involved in a murder investigation of a young college student, whose uncle is the inventor of the surveillance technology ADESS. This robotic technology has greatly reduced crime at the expense of personal liberty and privacy. His odyssey will take him to illicit porn dealers and computer hackers involved in a conspiracy to blackmail the deceased girl's uncle through the streets of London, and finally, to the distant data haven of Havana, Cuba and a climatic encounter with the man responsible for the girl's death. Meanwhile he is beset with fear over his girlfriend's safety when she becomes yet another pawn in the killer's bloody intellectual chess game with him. This stylish, extremely well-written novel should be regarded as one of the finest examples of contemporary science fiction, and deserves the "whole wide world" as its potential audience.

McAuley sets the book in in London, maybe eight years from now. Cameras cover every block, and a vast AI ties them together. A terrorist virus has crippled all computer networks, and most haven't recovered completly. Social mores have gotten more restrictive; porn is completely illegal, and foreign books/movies/magazines censored. And London is hot and uncomfortable, with screens and mesh everywhere (presumably to keep out virus-carrying mosquitoes, but never specifically mentioned), more like New Orleans than the UK.

Our hero must handle colleagues who wish him ill and try to keep him away from the case, the victim's uncle who invented the CCTV AI system and has too many secrets, his absent girlfriend who can't decide what to do with him, and a series of taunting emails from the possible perp. Like all good mysteries, each question answered leads to five more; each suspect checked out only implicates formerly trusted people. McAuley does a great job ratcheting up the tension as our unnamed protagonist tries to win his good name back. The descriptions of near-future London were well-written and disturbing enough to linger for days. And the issues raised about privacy will keep you thinking long after you put the book down.

A great read for SF readers, mystery fans, and computer geeks.

But murder is still a crime and Sophie Booth's murder is the DI's chance to reclaim active status in the police. It was a particularly nasty murder--complete with torture and finally a knifing. Worse, it was broadcast over the net and only one viewer bothered to notify the police. As the DI investigates, he begins to believe that the crime is not the straighforward murder it is made out to be. Finding the killer may not be enough to unveil the entire crime. As the police force turns against him, the DI is forced underground, taking chances that put him outside the pale.

Author Paul McAuley writes a tense SF mystery. The near-future environment he describes feels real and possible. For the most part, his technological crime advances ring true. The DI is well motivated and carefully drawn. His relationship with the missing Julie adds to his humanity and the violence of the crime motivates his extreme thirst for justice.