The Chaos Principle by Nathan Johnson
On Earth in the distant future, there’s little need for detectives. Real Crimes simply don’t get committed (though imaginary ones are another story). And then five people are murdered under mysterious circumstances. And now it’s up to Ansel Black, one of the few remaining detectives, to figure out not only whodunnit but why. It’s a murder mystery that turns out to be so much more — and will put everything he knows, even existence itself, into question.
In The Chaos Principle, author Nathan Johnson blends concepts of The Matrix into a dystopian future landscape and then pours a classic detective story on top, flavored with a big dollop of artificial intelligence.
In Johnson’s future Earth, almost all humans live as Homebodies, and spend the majority of their lives plugged into a Streambed, which is connected to an A.I. affectionately called Annie (aka ANI). Annie manages all aspects of their in-stream lives, creating friends and lovers for everyone, and even allowing them to commit in-stream crimes.
But some people’s Abnormalities push them too far, and they commit Real Crimes. The book opens with a mass killing: the aforementioned five people are murdered all at once, somehow out of range of Annie’s see-all peripherals, killed during some sort of secret meeting. And Ansel is dispatched to investigate.
But there’s more. Someone is leaving a series of beautiful paintings of perfect moments, all involving a reversed moon, around the edges of the Rim, where the habitable lands turn into the Waste, and Ansel must figure out how the paintings — and the strange graffiti often found nearby — might relate to the heinous crime.
ALL THE TRAPPINGS OF THE SCI-FI GENRE
Diving deep into the question of what is and isn’t real, Johnson invokes a rich tapestry of philosophical implications — who is the created and who is the creator? Is the perfect pseudo-life Annie weaves for her people better than the often-harsh reality they would have had instead? And is Annie really sentient, or just very well-programmed?
The story slips back and forth in time as the reader meets the five victims before their deaths and learns what the A.I. considers to be Abnormal. Not everyone wants to live under Annie’s benign rule, but should they be forced to? The reader sees many different views of life on this futuristic Earth, solving the puzzling murders along with Ansel.
This book really does have something for everyone — a fascinating cast of characters, a bit of romance and political intrigue, philosophical undertones, the underpinning of two popular science fiction staples (artificial intelligence and a dystopian future) and the solid detective murder mystery plot.
For all its complexity, the cross-genre aspects of The Chaos Principle are seamlessly blended, and the story itself is well-written. The ending will shock you. I’m intrigued to see where the series goes in book two!
About Nathan Johnson:
Interesting!