SKINJOB
Bruce McCabe
Bantam Press, $32.99
We are somewhere in the not too distant future and technology has continued to advance in leaps and bounds. The latest fad is high-tech brothels known as “dollhouses” with totally lifelike robot prostitutes, dubbed “skinjobs”, which are making millions for the Dreamcom corporation that controls them.
Until a bomb goes off in downtown San Francisco and it turns out it was placed in one of the new-wave pleasure palaces – possibly by a suicide bomber, or perhaps by a member of a rival Japanese crime conglomerate.
Daniel Madsen is a federal agent with the latest technological gadgetry, including a hand-held lie-detector machine that is believed to be foolproof.
Madsen must examine the sleazy world of techno sex and discover whether a high-profile Christian church with powerful backers was behind the bomb attack.
With a political struggle going on between the skin merchants and the NeChristo Church, Madsen has to concentrate on finding the killers while not becoming distracted by fellow agents with personal agendas – including one who is driven to destroy evidence – and the bitter debate over the morality of “dollhouses”.
Jobs or decency.
The owner of the corporation argues: “Half a billion dollars in R&D in the last three years alone. Dozens of labs, thousands of jobs …. Men who are not sexually satisfied get distressed, or depressed, or sacrifice everything in the search for fulfilment. Some are driven to take it by force. Dreamcom offers outlets, answers. We make society healthier by reducing abuse, prostitution, sexually transmitted diseases. Do you see?”
Charismatic Pastor Luke McConnell sees things very differently, saying: “This tragedy does nothing to change the fact that dollhouses inspire and perpetuate sin of the worst possible kind.”
Who to believe? Who to trust?
This is an extremely assured debut novel on the rampage of technology into our everyday lives, posing the question: “Just how much does the Government have the right to know?”
It’s hard to believe this novel by an Australian innovation researcher was originally self-published, such is its quality. If you are looking for thrills, suspense and some thought-provoking ideas then you’ve come to the right place.
