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Someone To Watch Over Me
Copyright 1997 by
Tricia Sullivan
I first read this in 1997 and most recently on the 16th June 2006
The Deep is the high tech criminal underworld. It'a illicit and dangerous.
For those that venture there, the rewards can be high: fantastic new neuro-technology embodied in
the form of biological plants.
Adrien Reyes is the recipient of one of these neuro-plants, and it allows his consciousness
to support a silent partner, "C", who observes the world through his eyes, hears
through his ears and feels through his body. At the beginning the hidden
presence of this Watcher, C, simply gave his life meaning but now it no longer
seems such an innocent idea, now it is more an abusive slavery and C is neither as
gentle nor as passive as Adrien originally thought. Now Adrien has been sorely
injured in the service of C and he's running for his life.
Sabina is a composer. She's excited by this illicit technology because
she believes it will allow music to be communicated purely and without the
restrictions and constraints of live performance. She's going to learn
what Adrien already knows. This gift tecnology comes with a heavy price.
It may cost her life.
This is good and darn near excellent. There's real drama - and
humour - especially at the beginning of the novel. I did thoroughly
enjoy the characters, and the way they all developed through the course of the
novel. It fails for me because some of the ideas introduced just don't make sense: I loved the idea of the
Deep, but how did it actually operate? How did the plants work?
And for what does HIT stand? Now I can guess that it might be Human Interface
Technology, but for all I really know it might be Hettie In Treacle.
Hold on a minute. I'd never made the connection! The Tricia Sullivan that
wrote "Lethe" (which I've always really, really liked) and this book is the
same Tricia Sullivan that wrote the Magnificent "Maul" and "Double Vision"!
Astonishing! And a bit embarrassing that I'd never made the connection.
Apparently, Ms Sullivan also made an appearance on "Space Cadets" way back in 1997
but you probably knew that already.
Loaded on the 15th July 2006.
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