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As a Psychic Investigator, Jack Stein's specialty is drawing clues from dreams and psychic impressions. It's not a line of work that draws a lot of respect in The Locality, where the rich live high and dry, and the poor rot at the roots. His latest client is Outreach Industries, a mega-conglom that's reached out and grabbed every resource on every chunk of rock in the galaxy--including the rim planet Dairil III, where a mining crew has mysteriously disappeared. Jack's been hired to sniff them out. In his dreams. One problem: Jack's visions are cluttered with strange mystical symbols and red herrings. It's enough to make him wonder if Outreach really wants the miners to be found. When Jack gets his hands on a seemingly minor piece of evidence, suddenly half the Locality is after him. And nobody's willing to tell him why. This could be part of something that's too big for even Jack to wrap his mind around.… (more)
User reviews
Stein is hired to investigate the disappearance of a miner. He's also hired to learn more about a lost handipad (PDA) that comes into his possession.
I wanted this book to be more than it was. I never felt all that connected to the protagonist, or to any of the characters, really. The plot also felt a bit forced. Of Stein's psychic abilities, Caselberg writes, "Things didn't happen by chance to Jack Stein. Coincidence was always loaded. Events seemed to coalesce around Jack." Unfortunately, that means the plot relies pretty heavily on these coincidences, which strains the credulity of the reader.
One of the most fascinating concepts for me was the Locality, the self-contained city which constantly rebuilds itself, leaving the old portion to fall into decay and ruin. Thematically, it was a powerful symbol, in addition to being a downright nifty idea. I hope he does more with it in future books.
I did finish the book, and I was relatively satisfied at the end. As a first novel, it's not bad, and Caselberg clearly has a great deal of potential. I just don't think this book completely fulfills that potential.
The setting is an interesting outgrowth of a trend
It is called the Locality and it has degrees of innovation and newness which correspond to price. There is New, where everything is shiny and fresh, and up to the minute in trends. Then there is Middle where the older New has been displaced, and finally Old where everything is falling apart, poorly maintained and soon to be re-absorbed. Stein lives on the Old side of Middle because its what he can afford. Of course he can hop the trans for the parks and shops of New when he needs a break. The Locality programs 'outside scenes' so that no one ever has to think about reality.
Jack is hired by a big company to look into the disappearance of a group of miners on a far away planet. The problem being that they are not sharing everything or really cooperating in the search for the miners and the truth.
There are multiples players, all with their own hidden agenda, and Jack has to figure out what happened, why, who did it, and who is blocking the investigation.
There are interesting side characters, and Jack picks up a teenage ward when a crony of his is killed. Billie adds a good touch to the story.
Jack looks into various metaphysical and mathematical theories to explain the vanishing of the miners. It is interesting, but doesn't bog down the story.
I liked the writing, the setting, and the characters. I have the rest of the series and will continue reading.