(Synthetica #1)
Seventeen-year-old Anais Finch lives in a world where everyone is born
beautiful, where every dream is a possibility - and where their every move and
every piece of personal information is recorded by an ID picochip inserted
behind their right ear. When technology giant, Civitas, finally announces the
launch of their highly anticipated Scholarly Learning Programs, which allow people
to download and learn any subject instantly, Anais can hardly wait.
fit in. When Anais witnesses a brutal murder on an innocent citizen and is
implicated in the crime, she becomes determined to uncover the truth,
especially when others like it begin to occur all over the city. But it may
already be too late for Anais to stop the man who calls himself 'the Hacker'
before he commits his most appalling crime yet...
Excerpt:
Anais finished her juice in a couple of swallows. She stood up to put her empty cup in the recycle bin a few paces away. She was concentrating so hard on getting out the last few drops from the bottom of her cup, that she didn't notice the man until it was too late.
They bumped into each other with some force; there was a small crash as the box he'd been carrying flew to the floor. The lid popped open and a cascade of tiny silver objects burst out and scattered all over the pavement. Anais staggered backwards, her cup dropping to the ground.
“I'm so sorry,” she apologised, immediately bending down to pick up the glinting objects. She picked a few up, recognising them as picochips. Puzzled, she stood back up straight.
“Here you go, I'm really sorry, I just wasn't -” she stopped abruptly as she held out her hand containing the tiny chips, and she looked up into his face. The man had picked up his box, but he hadn't said a word to her in apology or acknowledgement. Instead, he was staring at her with something remarkably like fury.
The lower half of his face was covered with what looked like an old pollen mask, designed to make it easier to breathe during the summer months when the air was hazy with dust. His dull black hair hung down to his shoulders, and his silver eyes were so pale, they were almost transparent. He was wearing a battered black jacket, upon which some kind of tatty logo was sewn on in red. There was a black glove on his right hand, which Anais couldn't help thinking was odd in this kind of heat.
But it was his expression that had made her stop talking. There wasn't an ounce of friendliness or apology in that face. Instead, he was looking at her as though he absolutely despised her. A cold chill ran down Anais' spine. She swallowed nervously.
“Um, I'm really sorry,” she managed to whisper. He snatched the picochips she was holding out to him, and with one last contemptuous look, he strode off without a word.
Links:
interested in the worlds in my head, than the real one - so I thought it was
finally time to do something about it. I went to uni, got a degree in
publishing, worked in an office for a while, decided I hated it, went to China,
came back...and now I'm a teaching assistant by day and a YA writer by night.
Phew! It's been quite a journey, but I wouldn't change it for the world.
Holy hell do I need this book. And the cover art is simple and fantastic and simply fantastic.
ReplyDeleteNot going to lie, I partially signed up for this blitz based on the cover.
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