Altered Carbon

This is a hard-boiled detective novel set in the 25th century. In this future, humans have a “cortical stack” implanted in their bodies into which their consciousness or Self is digitized. This Self can then be downloaded or “re-sleeved” into another body real, synthetic, or clone. Takeshi Kovacs, a specially trained soldier, finds himself re-sleeved into the body of a cop on Earth and tasked with a job he can't refuse. Centuries old Laurens Bancroft wants Kovacs to prove that he didn't commit suicide. (Bancroft has downloaded a back-up of his cortical stack into a clone. So he's only missing a few hours time from his last “sleeve.”) Thus begins an over-the-top shoot-em-up hunt for the facts which naturally uncover larger sinister plans at work. Some of this was interesting, some was entertaining. Some of this was also overly crude in language and the sex scenes had all the romance and eroticism of porn. That is to say, none. Along the way, Kovacs has virtual reality meetings with people, carries some jacked-up firepower, cuts off peoples heads, beds some dames, talks dirty, fights dirty, and generally leaves a trail of destruction. Some clever ideas, but I've read more entertaining stuff. And I could do without some of the crudeness. This book has been optioned to become a movie and would probably make a cool flick. But I don't think I'll be reading any more of Morgan's books.