First published to acclaim in the U.K. in 1998, Meaney's debut novel brings a bright lights/big city sensibility to the normally streetwise milieu of advanced neuro-tech. Like an SF Jay McInerney, Meaney (Paradox
) portrays the vast social chasm on planet Fulgar from the viewpoint of Tetsuo Sunadomari, a gate-crasher to the perpetual party of its tech toy–ridden upper class. Picking the wrong data pocket sends Tetsuo into exile in the hypozone, the planet's unterraformed area and home of the Shadow People underclass. Yoshiko, his mother, investigates her son's disappearance with the help of Fulgari glitterati like Vin and Lori Maximilian. Mixing her biology background and martial arts training with Fulgari tech, Yoshiko becomes bait to trap the cyber serial killer responsible for Tetsuo's fugitive status. Meaney offers haiku poetry and Eastern philosophy as Yoshiko's counter to the materially wealthy but spiritually poor Fulgari elite. Unfortunately, the number of plot coincidences suggests he was seeking an old Greek/Roman device instead, the deus ex machina. (Sept.)
