Carlucci’s Edge is a gritty, dystopian mystery novel set in San Francisco in an indefinite future. The story features a number of distinctive characters including Frank Carlucci, middle-aged detective, Paula, an early-forties rock musician, Mixer, a police informant, and Tremaine, a reporter. We know the most about Paula, whose thoughts and experiences make up a large part of the novel, and more about the family life of Carlucci, whose oldest daughter is dying, and how he weighs his decisions as a policeman, than his interior life, which is one of the few weaknesses of the novel. There is not quite enough about the main character to make us care about him, as opposed to our being concerned with the solution to the crime(s), which are at the heart of the story.

The plot is engaging and sufficiently circuitous to keep the reader involved and guessing to the end of the story. It involves the solution of a series of murders, which turn out to be related to each other and to a secret operation, which I won’t divulge because it would spoil it for the reader. Everything takes place in a ruined version of San Francisco, where a variety of odd groups of people populate a city that appears to have suffered past violence, where the Tenderloin district is hyper-dangerous and demarcated into ethnic quarters, and in which odd groups such as the all-female “Saints” roam, finding victims for their “trials” which either kill the defendant or permanently ruin his or her brain. Drug use and abuse are rampant, although beer and cigarettes are the main choice of most of the main characters. Even the wealthy, powerful neighborhoods, such as Telegraph Hill, where the city’s mayor lives, are heavily fortified. I have no idea and no explanation is given for the state of the city, but perhaps it was explained in the first book in the series. We know that the setting is the future because the moon is populated with a colony called New Hong Kong, a fact that is part of the plot.

The dystopian environment is as much a focus of the book as is the story, and it is described well. Unfortunately, many of the idiosyncratic characteristics, such as the city’s dangerous and partially destroyed “core,” the secret passages into the Tenderloin, the various groups, such as screamers, who have their mouths permanently shut, dog-boys, who walk on all fours, rat packs, go unexplained. It seems to be a tendency of many science-fiction novels to invoke concepts, devices and identities without much explanation of what or why they are, which adds to the alien atmosphere of the story, but which I find mildly irritating. Nevertheless, as an atmospheric device, it works in Carlucci’s Edge.

The plot of the story is first class. The plot alone is guaranteed to keep the reader involved. The plot does not go unexplained, and, although we don’t grasp it fully until near the end of the book, it is one that makes sense. I was engaged throughout the book and enjoyed reading it. I would have liked more explanation of the characteristics of the dystopian environment, but that detracted from my enjoyment very little. I would certainly recommend it for fans of science fiction or noir mystery, and it is a very good combination of these two genres.

To be fair, I meant to start October‘s reading with something more horrific, but this is pretty bleak, so maybe it’ll sort of kind of count. And either way, I just really like Russo’s writing. The opposite of prolific and the books he did put out seem to be not widely known or available, but they are so good and well worth tracking down. This is one of the writers responsible for getting me into science fiction. It’s only fair he pens my introduction to cyberpunk also. Well, that was technically the first Carlucci book. Now that they are released digitally and available through Netgalley’s, it’s like it’s meant to be. I enjoyed book 1 very much, though the eponymous detective is actually more of a peripheral character in in that one. In this book he is featured front and center, which probably accounts for the difference in titles. And I like Frank Carlucci. One of the few honest cops in a city where personal integrity doesn’t count for much anymore, he just can’t seem to ignore the injustice whenever he comes across it. This policy makes for a precarious position within the SFPD and streets of the city. So when a woman comes to him looking for assistance with solving her lover’s murder, a murder that seemingly everyone wants to sweep under the rug and forget about, Carlucci decides to get involved and once he does, he uncovers connections between that crime and others, all leading up to a conspiracy cover up involving one of the most seductive products one can imagine…immortality. From what memory serves up of the first book, I seem to have liked the mystery of it more, the actual serial killer plot was more exciting, but…these books offer so much more than mere mystery plots. I can’t even tell who’d win the competition between Russo’s character or his world building, so good thing there’s no competition. There’s just a terrific line up of fascinating, multidimensional, likeable, interesting, compelling characters and an absolutely awesome world building, featuring a near future San Francisco, hot, humid, rainy city crippled by some sort of climate nightmare and it’s techmodified hyperconnected yet strangely anachronistic denizens. The anachronisms of Carlucci’s world fascinate me, there’s infinitely superior technology in some ways, but no mobile phones. There are also tapes and discs, but that’s considerably less distracting than landlines. I’m never quite sure if that’s the author’s decision reflecting the time the books are written in (before mobile tech became so prevalent), lack of imagination ( I find this one difficult to subscribe to) or a deliberate choice. But landline or not, Carlucci is the man for the job and he will find as much justice as one can find in a city where it’s no longer valuable or often even feasible. Actually, maybe there are no mobile phones as a nod to the noir theme the books have going on, In fact, they are not just cyberpunk, they are very much a combination of cyberpunk/noir and it work really well. But seriously, even if nothing much went on in the book, I would still enjoy the reading experience. This is a personal thing, most likely, but there’s just a very potent reader/narrative connection I seem to have with Russo’s writing. Which is to say his books come alive to me in the most vivid visceral ways. And as much as In read, I seldom get to experience that. That level of immersion. Russo’s just so good, his characters seem so real, he even does love scenes right, which is a singular accomplishment in and of itself. So I love reading his books. And I definitely recommend them. Wish there were more to go around. Thanks Netgalley.

This is a good scifi mystery (from '95) with well written characters and an interesting plot that kept me engaged. This is dark and certainly cyberpunk and probably not for everyone.

I really appreciate the NetGalley copy for review!!