Subject: Review: "A Quantum Murder" by Peter F. Hamilton

From: "John Shiali" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 10 Aug 1997 09:54:35 -0000

"A Quantum Murder" by Peter F. Hamilton
		Review Copyright 1997 John Shiali

[contains minor spoilers for this volume and the preceding book about this
character  --AW]

This is the second of the Greg Mandel books, and whereas the other can be
described as SF action thrillers, this book leans more towards the
whodunnit area.

Edward Kitchener, brilliant but unconventional scientist and double Nobel
Prize winner, is slaughtered in the distinct style of an imprisoned serial
killer, whilst in the desolate retreat he shares with a few select
students.  Greg Mandel, psi-boosted investigator is called out of an early
retirement and back into the limelight as Event Horizon try to find out
what happened, and what Kitchener was working on that could have made him
a target.

Although this book is more of a puzzle story, and the solution telegraphed
by the halfway mark, the way the resolution is carried out is unsatisfying
and smacks too much of a convenient get-out.  The reader is asked to make
difficult leap of faith in order for the resolution to work.

Where the book makes up for this hugely is in the colour and richness of
the background.  Lincolnshire is still suffering from global warming, the
conglomerates still battle, techmercs still fight, but we get to see how
our favourite characters such as Julia Evans, Royan, Eleanor, Suzi, etc.
have progressed since the last book.  In the way that you might read one
of Iain M.  Banks' Culture novels and get a huge kick from finding out
more about the Culture themselves, so too Peter F.  Hamilton fills in more
of the world and history inhabited by Greg Mandel and the people around
him.

Although you won't get as big a kick out of this book as "Mindstar
Rising," it is a good read, and highly recommended if you intend to read
the third book, but like finding that your favourite ice-cream has changed
it's recipe and doesn't quite hit the spot for you anymore, you are left
with a slight feeling of anti-climax.  This is far more a reflection on
the impact that "Mindstar Rising" has than on the quality of "A Quantum
Murder," no doubt due to the change of recipe employed by Hamilton this
time around.

%A	Hamilton, Peter F.
%T	Quantum Murder, A
%D	1994
%G	ISBN 0-330-33045-4
%I	Pan Books Ltd.
%C	London, UK
%O	paperback 4.99 UKP
%P	376 pp
 
 John - 
Anglepoise lamps? Not under MY roof.