Alibi

Argh. I love Sharon Shinn, and I hate to give her a less than stellar review, but I have to be honest: her latest release is disappointing. The most glaring problem is the lackluster worldbuilding. Alibi is set in some unspecified future where teleportation is a regular, organized method of transportation. Unfortunately, Shinn doesn't explore how teleportation has changed the world other than the fact that our heroine Taylor can teach a class in Houston, visit her friend in Atlanta, and get back to her Chicago home all in the same day. I don't need an infodump on the invention and implementation of teleportation, but a few details might have been interesting. Does too much teleportation have a negative impact on your health? Does it ever break down and leave people stranded in limbo? Can someone with nefarious intent teleport right into a classified site? I was also less than impressed by the one-note bad guy, Duncan Phillips and the hardened ex-soldier love interest, Bram Cortez. Shinn's fantasy novels, especially the Elemental Blessings and Twelve Houses series, have a fairy tale, long ago quality that lends itself well to the existence of a Big Bad and a virtuous warrior knight. But in a futuristic setting (that reads as contemporary + better technology), I expect a more complex villain than a completely heartless monster who refuses any medical treatment for his fatally ill teenaged son because he wants him to die. Bram Cortez, the taciturn alpha who lets his guard down only around Taylor, is also straight out of central casting. One thing Shinn has always done well is portray the joy of friends and found family, whether it's an assortment of magic-users and warriors on a quest ([b:Mystic and Rider 97967 Mystic and Rider (Twelve Houses, #1) Sharon Shinn https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388338711l/97967.SY75.jpg 94425], etc.) or members of a unique royal family ([b:Troubled Waters 7908762 Troubled Waters (Elemental Blessings, #1) Sharon Shinn https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1270247367l/7908762.SY75.jpg 11180191], etc.). Taylor, her brother Jason, and their respective BFFs are a delightful gang of distinct individuals, as are the staff of the Phillips household that Taylor meets in her role as English tutor to Quentin. The book is billed as a futuristic mystery, but the identity of the victim is identified in the prologue, and after a lengthy flashback, the murder doesn't even take place until the 80% mark. I know that some background is necessary to establish any potential suspects and motives, but cramming all of the action into the last 50 pages lessens its impact. I am on record criticizing mainstream publishing for dropping Sharon Shinn several years ago. I still think they were idiots to do so, but I can't help wondering if a good editor could have addressed some of Alibi's problems and zhushed up the writing a bit. I wish I could recommend it wholeheartedly but the best I can do is to encourage you to check out the Samaria books from the late 1990s, as well as the other series I mentioned above. At her peak, Shinn's work is captivating.