Human Resource by Pierce Askegren
I think that last name is keeping this dude down. I can’t even look directly at it without feeling a little vertigo.
As I read this I found myself thinking “Huh, Michael Clayton in space“. This isn’t really fair, but it’s not really that far off either.
It’s set in a pretty believable future, with nothing on that score to niggle at me. I know, obviously my hate machine is slowing down with old age, right? Just wait until I bother to talk about Brian Aldiss here, that’ll convince you otherwise. The setting is the moon, where the five mega-corporations of the future have created a large settlement that seems to be equal parts industrial park and tourist trap.
The first scene in the book is the only one that bothers me. One of, if not the, primary characters has arrived on the moon and is awaiting an overdue escort. Another fellow makes conversation with him, which, towards the end is becoming somewhat strange in its forced “hey let’s go hang out buddy” tones. Then another fellow flanks the main character, sits silently for a few minutes, then starts talking to the other random dude, both trying to sweep our main man off to parts unknown.
I don’t know about you, but by this point I’d have gotten the fuck out of Dodge, yet our main man never even acknowledges that this episode seems entirely like an attempt to roll a man with obvious resources.
If you can let that slide you’ll be treated to some great characters. The book builds slowly, but strongly, with only a few times where I felt something was a misstep. Characters don’t grow so much as they’re revealed, like watching someone carve a statue from raw stone, and by the end I was surprised by the revelations, yet they remained totally believable.
I look forward to digging up the next book.