There's something very Jasper Fforde like about this. It's like a cross between the Thursday Next series and [Shades of Grey](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2113260.Shades_of_Grey__Shades_of_Grey___1_). If that's your jam, read this for sure.

Basically feelings are drugs and there's a war going on. Yeah. I'm going to stop. I'm not even going to try to explain this.

It's fun. There's a lot of action. There's a good mystery, drama, etc. The descriptions are good, as in it makes sense, despite being fantasy. I would definitely read another one of these. That's a good recommendation, right?

Hella confusing. This novel takes place in an alternate 2009 where Argentina is the 1st world power in charge of all other nations thanks to their development of psychopigments. Created as bioweapons, these colorful chemicals can produce emotions on contact. But it's really hard to keep them all straight; from their names to what effects they actually have. Also difficult to keep straight all the different names used for companies, rock bands and political parties. The narrator is a Psychopigment Enforcement Agent trying to solve a big case. It was just a lot of info in a small novel and as much as I like sci-fi, not really a fan of dystopian alternate universes.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for this e-arc.*

If you like Jasper Fforde and Emily St. John Mandel, The Shamshine Blind is for you! A wonderfully creative debut, a blend of sci-fi, cop noir, and humor. Kay Curtida is a fantastic protagonist, who feels stuck in her small town job without any exciting cases, but also doesn't totally trust her emotions because feelings have been weaponized (and, of course, turned into recreational drugs as well).

"In an alternate 2009, the United States has been a second-rate power for a quarter of a century, ever since Argentina’s victory in the Falkland’s War thanks to their development of “psychopigments.” Created as weapons, these colorful chemicals can produce almost any human emotion upon contact, and they have been embraced in the US as both pharmaceutical cure-alls and popular recreational drugs. Black market traders illegally sell everything from Blackberry Purple (which causes terror) to Sunshine Yellow (which delivers happiness).

Psychopigment Enforcement Agent Kay Curtida works a beat in Daly City, just outside the ruins of San Francisco, chasing down smalltime crooks. But when an old friend shows up with a tantalizing lead on a career-making case, Curtida’s humdrum existence suddenly gets a boost. Little does she know that this case will send her down a tangled path of conspiracy and lead to an overdue reckoning with her family and with the truth of her own emotions."

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria books for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

*3.5 stars rounded up.

Imagine an alternate world where Argentina defeated the US in the Falklands War in the 80s by using psychopigment weaponry based on human emotions. Most large cities like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles were decimated and so badly polluted with negative emotions that no one can enter them almost thirty years later.

Now in 2009, these emotion-based drugs have become recreational cures-alls, but someone has been selling dangerous fakes. In Daly City, outside the ruins of SF, it's up to the agents of Psychopigment Enforcement, like Kay Curtida, to track the perps down. Or is this new 'shamshine' only a blind to cover up a deeper conspiracy?

This dark and witty debut novel is part noir mystery and part scifi, with a bit of romance thrown in as Curtida deals with her feelings for her long-time friend and fellow agent, Doug Nambi. Curtida is an interesting new character, tenacious when on the job (or is she just plain stubborn?), clueless about her own feelings, and dealing with a pushy mother who knows how to push her buttons.

The plot is very original but I wouldn't say this thriller is a page-turner because the world-building that is needed slows down the pace considerably in the first 40%. The action then revs up but a part later in the story seemed almost downright silly. As you can imagine, emotions are always high in this story, but which ones are real and which are psychopigment induced?

I received an arc of this novel from the author and publisher via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own. I hope the author intends to create a series with these characters and the intriguing world they inhabit.

Alternate history, sci-fi, satire, and a detective story in one ultimately proved too much for me. Set in 2009 (but is it really?) this one kept me reading for about 25 percent when I finally admitted to myself that no matter how much I admired the worldbuilding and thoughtful plotting it just wasn't my cup of tea. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Over to others.

"Depressive are the type of people who'd spend hours staring stony-eyed out windows or keel over in fits of melancholy. I'd always just kept plodding through. Making myself usually. When I noticed I was having feelings, keeping myself busy made it was to ignore them. I'd thought I was normal. Funny to discover that was wrong."

The year is 2009, the US is a second-rate power after losing the war to Argentina thanks to the development of "psychopigments". Psychopigments are biochemical weapons that produce almost any human emotion upon contact. Kay Curtida is Daly City's own psychopigment law enforcement and when an old friend shows up with a career making case Curtida suddenly gets wrapped up in conspiracy sure to take her down.

The premise is original with terms like blackberry purple (terror) and sunshine yellow (happiness); with people getting hit by deepest blue and watching as their memories fade. It's told in a brooding and depressed (like black and white cop show) satirical LatinX voice. I can definitely see this being transitioned to the big screen.

The beginning encompassed a lot of world building and language introduction, but something like that is needed when creating a new dystopian world. It got to the meat of the story at about 40% and there were some plot points that were unnecessary. At times, I struggled to keep the side characters and places in order while also following the plot.

I absolutely loved Kay Curtida's character- she feels stuck in her little down tackling small time cases and dreams of promotion that never comes. She mentioned a lot about being a depressive which is why the psychopigments don't have a strong effect. It speaks on the human emotions and what we are willing to do to change those emotions.

Oftentimes, the characters are seen as "abusing" psychopigments by taking sunshine yellow daily. That instead of working their their emotions they look for a quick fix to get through the day.

CW: dealth, war, murger, gun violence, suicide, mental health, racism, addiction, psychosis, torture, memory loss, outing

Thank you to netgally for gifting me this early copy to review!

3.5

This book was quite the chore to get through for the first half. It was equal parts ambitious but unbelievable, interesting and boring. There was a lot of info dumping, but at the same time you get left in the dark about a lot of things involving the war, psychopigments, and what happened to make cities like Boise and Iowa City the big cities in the country. You're left to assume a lot of things and you have to suspend your disbelief a bit on psychopigments in general and Argentina winning a war that a lot of people may not really know about. I had only the most basic knowledge of the Falkland War, and I think that will be the case for many others. There is no information about the war, just that it happened and Argentina won due to the development of psychopigments.

After about the halfway point, things start picking up and getting more interesting, though there are still points where it drags a bit. It was hard for me to believe that no one anywhere and at any point had tried to develop Lavender Hope before. It seemed like more of a convenience for the plot's sake that Curtida and her group were the first ones to think of it and try to harvest it. The idea they come up with for getting the Hope is a little farfetched as well. There had to have been other options, but again it just seemed very convenient. There was a good cast of characters, though I did find the main character a bit on the bland side. I don't know if this was because of her neurodivergent status, but even neurodivergent people have personalities, likes, hobbies, etc.

I do have to say that Curtida's description of feeling like a "beige-carpeted waiting room" after being hit with ennui is one of my favorite descriptions ever. There was a lot of good writing, and the plot involving psychopigments is very unique, which I liked. However, I feel like it could benefit from a little more backstory on certain events and better pacing. Those looking for a good detective story with unique factors and a bit of science fiction will probably enjoy this, though it may be hard for some to get through.

The Shamshine Blind is a science fiction/mystery written in a noir style. The story takes place in an alternate 2009 where Argentina has won the psychopigments war. Every emotion has a color and these pigments are being used in nefarious ways. At the same time they are being used as pharmaceutical and recreational drugs. There are also counterfeit pigments which can be deadly. Psychopigment Endorcement Agent Kay Curtida takes on the case of her career when magenta goes wrong.

This is a very ambitious novel. The use of psychopigments is creative and interesting. I found a lot of the story hard to understand though. The noir style didn't work for me. I don't know if it was the best combination with a Sci fi plot. It takes a long time to get a grasp on things. Paragraphs are also long which don't help with easing in to the story.

The Shamshine Blind has a great premise. The style didn't work for me but I can see other readers enjoying this.

I had high hopes for this novel, but unfortunately, I found the overall plot very confusing. The writing was the highlight for me here, but I couldn't possibly explain what I got out of this book. The tone was very odd as well. Is the book supposed to be comical or serious? I wasn't quite sure. I can't give this book 3 stars and I didn't enjoy it, even though the writing was solid. Such a disappointment.

When Atria reached out with an ARC for The Shamshine Blind, the premise was intriguing. The email and blurb state it is for fans of Emily St. John Mandel, and as I’m still living on the high of Sea of Tranquility, I readily agreed to read this.

However, this book isn’t for me, and I feel the comparison to Mandel is a reach. While the premise of an alternate US, in which pigments have changed people drastically, is incredibly appealing, the execution doesn’t work for me. So much time is spent describing everything, including the insignificant, that it was a chore parsing out relative information. It also made the book incredibly slow to get through. There is a lot of groundwork to lay, and the constant influx of new information can make keeping track of this unique world challenging. We alternated with shaky pacing between each info dump.

I had high hopes for the detective/mystery element of the book, but it fell flat. I don’t understand some of the directions this book went. While this book isn’t wholly for me, there are many working elements with this book that will appeal to many readers.

My thanks to both NetGalley and Atria Books for an advanced copy of this science fiction alternate history about a dystopian America, a failing drug war and the power of colors and emotions.

I remember a tv show well back in the day, either Unsolved Mysteries or ABC's 20/20, it was the Reagan era, I was in the suburbs, honestly shows about rampant crime was about the only thing TV offered, sort of like FOX News now. The segment was on the fact that a few police stations were painting their intake cells, or drunk tank cells pink. As a teen in the suburbs during the Reagan administration I assumed it was because pink was a a girls color and they were making men feel all wimpy and girly, cause good guys were macho. As the piece went on the guy who had the cells painted said we painted the rooms pink because people who were arrested calm down quicker seeing pink, rather than industrial gray, which makes them easier to deal with. This was my first experience with the idea that colors set the mood. Soon I would be selling books about power colors and jobs or dating, or deciding is one looked good in autumn colors.

Now imagine if the power of colors were weaponized, and not just weaponized made an addictive drug that could destroy countries and ruin lives. That is the story that Paz Pardo tells in the novel The Shamshine Blind a science fiction book about a dystopian America, colors, addiction and how even emotions can be criminalized.

Kay Curtida works a different beat as an Enforcement Agent in Daly City, a small town not far from the ruins of San Francisco, destroyed as were most of the major cities, along with American hegemony twenty five years earlier. During the Falklands Islands War, now known as the Malvinas War, the Argentineans deployed a secret weapon, psychopigments, a drug that uses colors to flood a human with any emotion a person could think of. From a weapon of war the drug soon became an addiction, leading to a special group of police, most with problems emotionally to combat it. Curtida is near the end of her career, at 40 Curtida will be retired soon, and Curtida hopes that the rumors that have been going around about a stronger different drug might be true and gain Curtida some more time. However a strange suicide involving her intern's cousin, might lead to a dangerous situation.

A different kind of book that draws on a lot of different ideas to tell a story, and succeeds in pulling it all together. Using the Falklands, something most Americans won't even know happened, or even who the sides in the battle were, is a refreshing idea, and immediately opens this novel up to a different set of characters. Pardo has done a lot of work, from charts telling what different emotions are given by colors, to why America failed, the ideas of enforcement, the emotional problems that would help against the psychopigments shows on every page. And everything is revealed slowly and carefully, nothing info dumped, or just presented. Kay is a character who comes alive investigating crimes, away from work, or with her family, her character changes, and this is crucial to getting a feeling for this world, and explaining who Kay is. I really enjoyed this book, and the work and ideas that went into it.

This is the first that I have read by Paz Pardo, and look forward to more. Pardo has a very good way with characters, and creating a world that is both familiar and yet different, but in new way. I really can't wait to read more by Pardo. Recommended for people who like their science fiction with a tinge of reality, and a lot of weird.

This is not one of my favorite genres, but it’s a good story. The author developed alternative chemical weapons that affected the mind. It worked well. The basic story is interesting, but I got bogged down with the descriptions of the drugs and their effects on people. That’s the reason for 3 stars.

The Shamshine Blind is the story of a world where emotions have been weaponized- your emotions can be altered with the press of a trigger. When Argentina succeeded in weaponizing emotions, the US lost power and struggled to thrive. Set in 2009, Kay Curtida is working as a small-town agent who has never seen a big case come through before. When two important cases materialize Curtida is sent down a dangerous rabbit hole. She will need the help of her rookie, her chief, and old friend to crack the case- before she is taken off it or taken out.

Paz Padro has created an intricate and horrifying world that is fascinating to read about. The creativity was mind-blowing. The world-building was incredible, with terrifying details and realistic consequences to deadly actions. The idea of the Hope Count was so clever and I enjoyed learning about all of the different color pigments. I think my favorite part of The Shamshine Blind was the focus on the strengths of neurodivergent people and the strengths of being neurodivergent.

I found it hard to connect with the main character, Kay Curtida. This was mainly due to the difficulty she had with emotions, it made it challenging for me to relate to her choices. It could be painful to see as she ignored or rejected emotions and instead threw all her energy into the case. I thought the pacing was good when it came to solving the case and slowed when it came to Curtida dealing with her thoughts and emotions. I would have appreciated more character growth from Curtida, though maybe we will return to her in another novel! This is definitely an author to watch; I’m looking forward to seeing what Paz Pardo writes next!

The Shamshine Blind releases February 14, 2023. Thank you to Paz Pardo, Atria Books, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks Atria Books and NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book!

An alternate history sci-fi mystery may seem like a mouthful, but I thought this book was beautifully done. One of my favorite parts of this book is that neurodivergent people are the heroes. Kay Curtida is a depressive, which means she doesn't react to psychopigments the same way neuro-typical people do and it makes her a fit for the Psychopigment Enforcement Agency. She's the kind of character you kind of want to yell at through the book because you can see how all these people care for her and she is always trying to lone wolf it.

I did have a few editorial issues with my copy near the end of the book where sentences didn't line up or there were extra spaces between words making them misspelled. I did find that some of the book was a little heavy handed and that made it drag on it bit, but overall I really enjoyed it and would definitely buy a sequel or another book set in the same universe.

This wasn’t what I expected but I enjoyed it. It was a fun twist on the idea. That emotions are drugs. Emotions make us do crazy things so do drugs. Got it. I liked the characters. It was a little bit of a slow read for me though and I don’t really know why. I’ve already recommended it to a friend.

*I received this book as an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) through NetGalley. I received this copy free in exchange for my honest review.*

Thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read and review this title prior to publication. I absolutely love Emily St. John Mandel, and I also like reading science fiction and alternate history and mystery, so I thought this one would be a great fit for me. Maybe it was just my mood, but after 8% into the book I decided I didn't care enough to put the work into understanding the story and what was happening. I am sad this one did not work for me, as I really thought it would be a great fit.

This is one of the most original stories I've read in a long time. Also, one of the most dystopian. Things are a mess after the United States loses a war to Argentina. And how does Argentina win? By making weapons that control human emotions through color. Oh boy, now everybody from criminals to police to addicts want their hands on these molecules.

All the major cities of America are destroyed, leaving Boise Idaho as the largest town in the country. (That alone is kind of scary) There are catastrophic color events that wipe out the memories of thousands of people or make thousand lose their minds. Meanwhile, fascists are taking over the whole world.

Sounds terrible, right? That's what dystopian books are supposed to sound like! This one isn't all frightening all the time. The main character, Officer Kay Curtida is funny, smart, and one tough lady. There's a meddling mother, a little romance, and several really likeable characters. Some stinkers, too.

And lots of people get shot with pigmented bullets. Think paint gun games but in this one you lose your mind if you're hit. Or breathe it. Or get too near it. This stuff is everywhere. I felt like wearing a hazmat suit while reading Shamshine.

Thanks to Netgalley and Atria Press for allowing me to read and review an eARC of The Shamshine Blind.

The premise of this book was very interesting and it took place in the next city over from me, which was an added plus. The style of the book didn't really work for me, so it was tough going at some points. It is written in a more detached style which fit the narrative very well, detached and somewhat ironic, but for me as a reader, it wasn't my favorite style. worth the read though

This has such an interesting storyline. However, I did lose my interest throughout the story. It was a good story.

"Sunshine always made my mind and body feel more welcome in the world. Like there was plenty of space for everything."

The premise of this story was fascinating to me: a blend of mystery and science fiction and alternate-history. I loved the idea of emotions being used as weapons. I loved so much about this story and I was intrigued about so many of the details around the alternate history. I liked the characters and the mystery was twisty and interesting in its own way.

Alas, I think it really could have benefited from a good editor. The pacing was off, for me. Sometimes too slow and other times it was hard to understand what was happening. That made it a slog for me to get through the story and made me want to skim large swaths.

I still really liked the premise and am glad I read it.

with gratitude to netgalley and Atria Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.