Tomorrow and Tomorrow

Sweterlitsch’s strong debut takes place 10 years after a terrorist’s nuclear bomb obliterates much of Pittsburgh. Dominic Braxton’s pregnant wife was killed in the attack. Now he investigates insurance claims stemming from deaths using Pittsburgh’s City Archive, a virtual reality memorial constructed from surveillance footage and photographs. He also uses the Archive to obsessively relive time with his wife. The case of a young woman murdered shortly before the blast leads to another “missing” woman—Albion Waverly, deceased daughter of the super-rich effective ruler of the online world—whose Archive presence is being systematically deleted. Dominic dives into a world where identities can be erased but crimes cannot, his virtual wife is the least he might lose, and an enemy may be his only hope of survival. Sweterlitsch takes an unusual turn in that Dominic closes in on the truth by shredding connections between virtual and real, and the more he operates in the real world, the more vivid and compelling the story becomes. Agent: David Gernert, Gernert Agency. (July)