CHIMERAS

(Disclosure: the author is a personal friend. To avoid the perception of impropriety, I am grumpily rounding 4.5 stars down to 4 instead of up).

That said: this was damn good. The pace is fierce, dialog snappy, imagery vivid - including more senses than just the visual, a touch not only vital to the story but also intriguing and memorable. The story drew me in and kept me reading eagerly: it's just on the edge of scientifically plausible, but the human elements are entirely believable even if (or perhaps especially because) they're not all entirely likable.

There's somewhat more violence than I was expecting or was comfortable with. Not just the body count that's de rigeur for a murder mystery; there's interpersonal aggression that, while a necessary part of the story context, often left me tense. Perhaps I've grown too docile in my old age. At no point, though, was I tempted to put the book down: the story was too engaging, the writing too enjoyable.