One of Us
4/5
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About this ebook
A mesmerising SF thriller from a master of the genre. Hap Thompson is a REMtemp, working the night hours, having people’s anxiety dreams for them. For the first time in his life, Hap’s making big money – and that should have been enough…
Hap Thompson has finally found something he can do better than anyone else. And it’s legal. Almost. Hap’s a REMtemp, working the night hours, having people’s anxiety dreams for them. For the first time in his life, Hap’s making big money – and that should have been enough.
But then Hap is made an offer he just can’t refuse: proxying memories instead of dreams. This is not almost illegal – this is illegal in bold with flashing lights. The last thing the cops want are criminals who can pass lie detector tests and Hap knows it, but he’s relying on the promise that he won’t have to carry anything that relates to a criminal offence. Big mistake. Before he knows what’s happening, Hap is locked in a vicious nightmare that threatens to tear his mind and his life apart…
And, as in all Michael Marshall Smith novels, that is just the start.
Michael Marshall Smith
Michael Marshall Smith lives in north London with his wife Paula, and is currently working on screenplays and his next book, while providing two cats with somewhere warm and comfortable to sit.
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Reviews for One of Us
172 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I really enjoyed this bizarre novel, a sort of modern hardboiled detective story narrated in an Archie Goodwin-esque voice, set in a near future where home appliances wander the streets and unpleasant memories can be removed and downloaded into another person's brain. The humour is irreverent, the worldbuilding random but entertaining (talking appliances, collapsing cars, coincidences in drug form), and the narrator's philosophy of life suitably cynical ('Deck is one of those people you can't help liking. I'm not. People find it enormously easy. Some of them don't like me several times a day, just to keep their average up'). But then the plot started to resemble an episode of the X-Files, before finally mutating into a semi-religious theory of higher, or other, beings, quirkily phrased like (how I imagine) a Terry Pratchett novel to read, and my enthusiasm plummeted. The final chapters mostly restored my faith in the narrator, and the author, and I will probably try another novel by Michael Marshall Smith, but I could have done without the trite existential blather. Less introspection, more talking appliances, please!
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Not my favourite of his works, but still charmingly quirky in places. Contains one or two really great quotes. Hap Thompson is woken up by his alarm clock. not a staggeringly unoriginal beginning maybe, but Hap is in a bar, and he last saw his alarm clock when he threw it out of a window of his car a long way away. Yep in this weird alternative future applicances are almost alive, they can move and think and talk. This leads to one of the greatest lines in the book, near the end - "Printers don't just hate humans they are generally contrary bastards". Anyone can agree with this sentiment. Hap is a dream caretaker. If you're bothered by distracting dreams he will dream them for you (for a fee) leaving you refreshed in the morning. This affluent if borderline legal (hey it's quantum law) lifestyle quickly gets boring and Hap steps up to memory caretaking, and this quickly gets him into trouble. He doens't know just how much trouble! Smith's masterpieces are always the worlds he creates, possible future societies featuring people being people, just with new and exciting technology. One of Us isn't set that far in the future, so isn't that exciting as a world. The social commentry on how people behave isn't too bad, though the characters are quite thin. Laura gets a bit of fleshing out but that's about it. The underlying religious subplot is just wierd. An interesting idea, but somehow it just doesn't quite hang together. I don't know if it's the idea or the writing style but it didn't really work for me. Not quite lighthearted enough.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5I you can't say something good about something....