This Side of Judgment

by J. R. Dunn

Hardcover, 1994

Status

Available

Call number

813.54

Collection

Publication

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (1994), Edition: 1st, Hardcover, 320 pages

Description

The remnants of a community of supermen are hiding from the authorities. Cybernetically enhanced people-"chipheads"-they have implants in their brains. They may be the next stage in human evolution, the mind/machine interface, but one of the chipheads is insane. He likes to kill. The COSSF ) Computer Subversion Strike Force, a federal agency called the Cossacks) investigates when the system of the Ironwood First State Bank is tapped and the nude body of a dancer is discovered, mutilated savagely, near a farm road. Enter brash and short-fused Ross Bohlen, COSSF operative, who has a hard time working with the local police and an even harder time working with his boss. Bohlen wields a computer in one hand and a Colt Python in the other as he follows his instincts to track down the killer. In his debut novel J. R. Dunn gives the Frankenstein story a high-tec yet compassionate, poetic twist as he tells of a noble dream that becomes a tragic experiment.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member bibliojim
This book pulled me through it with no diificulty - excellent pacing. I read it too long ago to remember details, but I found it rather moving, which is extremely unusual for a book written as a thriller, and I made a point of finding other books he wrote. He hasn't had any new novels out for a
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long time now, but he's a writer whose work I find extremely worth reading.
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LibraryThing member johnnyapollo
This book features and interesting story set in the near future - the back-story: groups have experimented with direct-computer interfaces using chips embedded in the skull. This is in conjunction with an apparently benign virus that allows these individuals to interface via any connection with the
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systems they are "hacking." However everything goes awry when many of these "chip-heads" begin exhibiting various psychosis as a result of the over-load of information - this causes everything to fall apart so the individuals, who can't seem to stop "hacking" and are in hiding in remote areas are hunted down by a government group.

The main plot line involves an agent of the government group investigating a brutal murder in a small town in Montana with occurred during what looks to be a "chip-head" incursion into the local data net. Without giving too much away, I rather liked the basic premise and story. The world-building and action were fast paced and believable. My only real issue was with the dialog which just didn't work for me.
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Language

Original language

English

Physical description

320 p.; 9.23 inches

ISBN

015100076X / 9780151000760

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