The Skull Cage Key

In this urban sci-fi mystery, Marriott paints a disturbing picture of 2042 New York and its seedy underbelly. A string of killings beginning in a Harlem department store bathroom are linked by one feature: each victim is found decapitated, the heads nowhere on the scene. Meanwhile, a new recreational drug craze is emerging, guaranteeing to take the user out of his own head and into someone else's. Smart, imaginative and vivid, Marriott's vision of future Harlem has a refreshing authenticity, rooted in history and unafraid of reflecting ugly race relations. Marriott, a technology reporter for the New York Times, is trying to make a point that never quite gets fleshed out, but readers will hardly mind with hard-boiled lines like this, from streetwise, semi-retired detective Reagan: ""In Harlem there are a whole bunch of folks who would kill for a chance to steal your head and sell what's inside like cotton candy at the circus."" Though the multiple narrative strands confuse at first, they wend together well to make a compelling page-turner.