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The Real-Town Murders
- Author
- Adam Roberts
- Narrator
- Zara Ramm
- Publisher
- Orion
- Publish Date
- 24 August 2017
- Run Time
- 8 hours 15 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
- Genre
- Science fiction
What to expect
Alma's partner is ill, and has to be treated without fail every 4 hours, a task that only Alma can do. If she misses the 5 minute window her lover will die. She is one of the few not to access the Shine.
So when Alma is called to an automated car factory to be shown an impossible death and finds herself caught up in a political coup, she knows that getting too deep may leave her unable to get home.
What follows is a fast-paced Hitchcockian thriller as Alma evades arrest, digs into the conspiracy, and tries to work out how on earth a dead body appeared in the boot of a freshly-made car in a fully-automated factory.
Read by Zara Ramm
(p) Orion Publishing Group with Audible Ltd 2017
Critics Review
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This is witty, smart, cleverly structured and, like the master's finest films, hooks the reader from the opening moments and never lets go. Dial M for Marvelous.
STARBURST MAGAZINE
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The kind of elegantly playful fun at which Roberts, almost routinely it seems, excels.
SFX MAGAZINE
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The Real-Town Murders is thoughful, clever and effortless fiction that successfully blends hardboiled noir with near-future scifi to create a rich, rewarding story. Highly recommended.
SF BOOK
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A gleeful homage to future noir.
SCIFINOW
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Gripping and ingenious.
CRIME TIME
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The sort of chase thriller that Hitchcock used to film.
MORNING STAR
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As ever, Roberts's use of the genre to explicate ideas - the allure of virtual reality and the consequent aff ectless society - is done with grace and economy, and what might have been a grim read is leavened by moments of irreverent black humour.
GUARDIAN
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An antic collision of Agatha Christie and British science fiction anthology series Black Mirror... Smart, deliciously witty and immensely engaging, it is Roberts at his playful best.
James Bradley, author of Clade
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Adam Roberts
- Narrator
- Zara Ramm
- Duration
- 8 hours 15 minutes
- Release Date
- 24 August 2017
- ISBN
- 9781409177401
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Orion
- Genre
- Science fiction
Synopsis
Alma is a private detective in a near-future England, a country desperately trying to tempt people away from the delights of Shine, the immersive successor to the internet. But most people are happy to spend their lives plugged in, and the country is decaying.Alma's partner is ill, and has to be treated without fail every 4 hours, a task that only Alma can do. If she misses the 5 minute window her lover will die. She is one of the few not to access the Shine.So when Alma is called to an automated car factory to be shown an impossible death and finds herself caught up in a political coup, she knows that getting too deep may leave her unable to get home. What follows is a fast-paced Hitchcockian thriller as Alma evades arrest, digs into the conspiracy, and tries to work out how on earth a dead body appeared in the boot of a freshly-made car in a fully-automated factory.Read by Zara Ramm(p) Orion Publishing Group with Audible Ltd 2017
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