Broken People by Ioana Visan

Reviewer: JW Hicks author of Rats.

What we thought: That the synopsis states the absolute truth:– You don’t always get what you want, but if you’re lucky, you might get what you need.

And, Anything is possible in a world of Broken People.

Broken People – Visan’s futuristic heist story, set in a war-ravaged and bitterly divided world, where the injured rely on expensive and increasingly rare prosthetics. A world where the cost of fitting and maintaining the prosthetics is rocketing, and trained technicians increasingly rare.

Dale Armstrong and his partner in crime, Cole, plan to rob the Hrad,an ancient castle reputed to hold fabulous artifacts, soon to be open to the public for one week only. When Cole is badly injured before the heist is to take place, Dale, in desperate need to fix his partner is forced to turn to the Golden Lady for help. She agrees, but the cost is far higher than he could ever imagine.

The Golden Lady, a power player in the city, has her own very particular agenda. She allows Dale entrée toThe Nightingale Circus, where Big Dino rules over his technicians and outré performers with a rod of iron.

Involved, entangled and trapped, Cole’s journey to fulfill his plan weaves a convoluted path through deceit, diversions and disasters. En route he has to deal with strongly individual and off-the-wall characters such as Aurora, the golden-armed lady, the magician Nicholas who is far more than he seems, the enigmatic Ceilo, and the monstrous Big Dino’s scary techs, Rake and Spinner.

This startlingly inventive novel is a must for sci-fi, dystopian, and cyber-fiction fans. Visan draws the reader into this broken world with consummate ease, endowing her characters with solidity and depth and drawing the reader with an unbreakable thread through the twists and turns of an unforgettable story.

You’ll enjoy this if you like: Novels which echo Gibson and Cadigan. And futuristic thrillers like Mad Max.

Avoid if you don’t like: Cybernetic humans and circus freaks.

Ideal accompaniments: A plate of fancies, numerous cups of strong coffee and an absence of interruptions, because you won’t be able to stop reading this thrill-ride.

Available from Amazon