Being able to dominate a subordinate group of individuals is innately appealing. It appeals to an inner devil in our nature. As much as we condemn slavery today, I’m of the opinion that there are very few of us who wouldn’t want a slave if it were legally possible and socially approved. It is the legality of slavery that empowers individuals to exercise their dominating desire.

Legitimacy backed up by governmental law enforcement is what made early American slavery possible. The book SINthetic is about a society where that legitimacy exists and shows that ethnic group discrimination and ethnic group blaming are only possible when governments openly or subtly condone it. Slavery and indenturement were often cited in the old testament. Slave behavior patterns were established and paths that slaves could follow to earn freedom for themselves and their families were recognized.

The book title, “SINthetic”, describes a group of people who are grown in a lab for the purpose of providing menial labor for a society that felt themselves above such tasks. SINthetics are used as sex objects and slaves. They are mentally programmed for obedience. SINthetics have no rights and are considered property under the law. They bought and sold and can be abused, as American slaves sometimes were, with total impunity. In the book, one man decides to take up their cause. Hoping to shame society, he brings out the proof that SINthetics are as human as their owners. “SINthetic” is the story about that man and how he came to that realization.

This was a troubling story to read as it exposes the hidden daemon in our nature that makes slavery possible. I found myself contemplating the possibility of slavery today every time I put the book down at the end of a reading session. Living in South Florida over the past 38 years, I have heard people brag about how they employ illegal immigrant laborers for low wages, sometimes even not paying them, and threatening to report them to the INS whenever they complain. Isn’t today in this regard a form of slavery?

I hope the author continues to follow this disturbing issue as we all need a reminder of the innate devil that makes slavery possible. These occasional reminders topple us from the superiority platform we think that we occupy when judging others who discriminate against those who are different than ourselves. ( )

In a bleak future where the city of New Orleans has been wiped out by superstore, the city of Floattown and New Lyons have been built over and adjacent to the sunken city. It is a future where 'synthetics’, humans created in labs, are used for many different purposes, including as sex toys.

We open with Detective Campbell at a murder scene, where a young woman has been eviscerated, and left in the street like trash. And to her killer, and those called to process the site alike, she is nothing more than. Why? Because she is a synthetic, considered property, not human. To consider the synths as anything other than property would call into question all the heinous uses they are put to. But to Campbell, labelled a synth-sympathiser, this woman deserves justice. What he search turns up is far beyond what he could have imagined, a truth to shake the very foundation of society.

SINthetic is a brilliant gritty noir detective story illuminating what it truly means to be 'human’, to have sentience and self-sovereignty. Likewise, it shines a light into the darkest depths of what it means to be inhuman, to be monstrous, and without soul, for what else can you call it when a people create life, only to abuse and debase it?

I loved the writing, but it did leave me feeling skeezy and nauseous, because of how the synths were treated. They are property and so it's perfectly acceptable to torture, rape, and kill them. Violent crime is considered almost nonexistent, not because the violence doesn't happen, but because it only happens to non-people. It happens to property. These topics arise, but Nicholas doesn't go into extreme graphic detail, thankfully.

I suppose reactions come from being an empath, and overly compassionate person. I just cannot fathom how people can consider other people as property, and that's made worse because these people made the synths in a lab, and somehow thought that made them less than human when it's clear they have spirit and soul.

This reminded me of the Star Trek: Next Gen episode 'The Measure of a Man’, where Lt Commander Data’s sentience and self-sovereignty is questioned, and put on trial when a Starfleet cyberneticist wants to shut him down and disassemble him to learn how he was created. No, son. Don't be an asshole.

There were undertones of Masterpiece Theatre's The Last Enemy, with how the cameras once used for traffic and other cc cameras are used to monitor the population. Camera clusters cover almost the entirety of the city, so there's very little privacy. I'm definitely looking forward to the continuation of this series! Highly recommended if you like fantasy/sci-fi oriented crime thrillers with a deep emotional punch.

***Many thanks to Silver Dagger Blog Tours and the author for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. ( )

Blade Runner redux

In 1982 I saw Blade Runner with two friends, one who, like me, was a serious SF reader and the other who was not. The SF novice thought the film was odd and had no idea that there could be any deep meaning in the story, I and the other friend talked at length about the film's exploration of what it means to be human. In SINthetic, we have a book that puts that question right up front.

The global economy is propped up by Synths, replicants as in Blade Runner, but more tightly programmed for obedience. Synths can't do anything, even indirectly, that might result in harm to humans. Killing a Synth is considered property damage, not murder, and is a crime seldom investigated by police. Most people are like my friend (or visitors to WestWorld in the current TV serial), they don't find an existential question in Synths. Yet New Lyons Detective Jason Campbell and other hardened police officers are put off by grotesquely disemboweled female Synths scattered across the city.

Detective Campbell is an unusual policeman with an unusual history, and he is unhappy that he may not investigate the mutilations. These killings look like practice runs for a serial killer who is working up the courage to attack humans. Detective Campbell would be determined to find him even if he were not being pushed to greater efforts by a mysterious, autonomous Synth who wants to keep the investigation going.

As the pressure mounts, we learn more about Detective Campbell and his motivations and we learn more about the invisible Synths.

I liked the book and look forward to the sequel. I must warn you though that I find Mr. Nichols' physiology improbable and his grasp of the Three Laws of Robotics a bit weak.

I received a review copy of "SINthetic" by J.T. Nicholas (Rebel Base Books) through NetGalley.com. ( )

SINthetic by J.T. Nicholas is a highly recommended science fiction novel.

Detective Jason Campbell is called to a murder scene in the city of New Lyons. A female body has been found mutilated, cut open with the internal organs missing, and left in the streets. But once the investigators realize the body is a Synth, the crime is designated as the destruction of property, and no investigation is needed. Campbell has no murder case. In the future Synthetics, known as Synths, are lab-grown people that under the law have no rights. They are mules. They are made to do the menial jobs that no one else wants to do. Legally, "they were less than people on a level so profound that they were relegated to objects, to things."

While Campbell may disagree with the system, he knows he can't fight it and keep his job. He does talk the medical examiner into having one of his technicians look for any clues, just in case this event signals the beginning of a serial killer. When he returns to his home in Floattown, a bad neighborhood where cheap prefabricated buildings are built on VLFSs (very large floating structures) over what was once the city New Orleans, he is shocked to find a stranger in his apartment, sitting in his recliner. The man is a Synth, and he asks Campbell to secretly investigate the death anyway, because this dead Synth isn't the first. The stranger gives him a list of dead Synth's who were all killed in the same way.

SINthetic has an engaging premise and will capture your attention immediately. The writing is good and the plot carefully planned to slowly release more information about Campbell and his background. You know that Campbell has some mysterious event in his background that opens him up to being sympathetic to the treatment of Synths. He is also a master of martial arts and fighting, which will come into play several times.

There are pros and cons to this novel. It is the first book in a new series, which is great, but it also felt like the action, story, and pages in this first book were cut down way-too-much, perhaps to facilitate the new series. The investigation felt attenuated. Yes, it is compelling and full of great action sequences. It comes to a satisfying conclusion, but it comes to that conclusion to the investigation rather quickly and abruptly. It might have been more satisfying if there were a few more twists and turns to the investigation - a little more intrigue and subterfuge.

This first book nicely sets up what will be the second book in the series, SINdication, which is to be released just under a month from this one, on March 20th. It is nice to know the second book will be following the first so quickly, but I couldn't help but feel how much more satisfying it might have been for me, as a reader to get these two books together. SINthetic is only 176 pages. SINdication is 304 pages. The third book, SINdrome is scheduled for release on 9/18 with an estimated 304 pages. Series are sometimes nice for long tales, but there is something to be said in getting the whole story, or a larger chunk of it, quickly.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Kensington Books via Netgalley.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2018/01/sinthetic.html ( )

Goodreads Synopsis:
They look like us. Act like us. But they are not human. Created to perform the menial tasks real humans detest, Synths were designed with only a basic intelligence and minimal emotional response. It stands to reason that they have no rights. Like any technology, they are designed for human convenience. Disposable.

In the city of New Lyons, Detective Jason Campbell is investigating a vicious crime: a female body found mutilated and left in the streets. Once the victim is identified as a Synth, the crime is designated no more than the destruction of property, and Campbell is pulled from the case.

But when a mysterious stranger approaches Campbell and asks him to continue his investigation in secret, Campbell is dragged into a dark world of unimaginable corruption. One that leaves him questioning the true nature of humanity.

And what he discovers is only the beginning . . .

My Review:
I received a copy of this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

First off, I think the cover is really nice looking. It's just so clean! The description is really what got me interested in the book, though, and I'm really glad I got the chance to read it. It's exciting and mysterious and unlike anything I've read lately.

The book starts out with the main character, Jason Campbell, in first person, looking around while he stands over the body of a brutalized dead woman. There's a lack of blood and a sort of barcode on her neck that confirms her a synthetic human, and his co-worker thanks god when he finds out. He calls her a mule. If that doesn't set the tone for the rest of the book, I don't know what does.

Synthetic humans have no basic rights in this futuristic world, and people care for them about as much as they'd care about their toaster. Campbell thinks that's unfair, seeing as they're exactly like humans in every way except stronger, and better looking. He's been labeled a Synth sympathizer most of his career, and that's not going to change. But too many dead Synth women have been showing up lately, and no one seems to be bothered in the slightest, or even look into the deaths. He thinks its due to a serial killer who's practicing on them because you can't get any backlash for it. Killing your Synth is no bigger deal than killing your toaster, however anatomically correct and absolutely lifelike they are.

Overall i really enjoyed this book, and once I found the time to sit down and read it, it really flew by. I didn't want to put it down in case I missed something. The characters, although thoroughly put together, develop so much more and really help the story along. Honestly this is probably one of my new favourite books and again, I'm really glad I got the chance to read it. Definitely check it out for yourself and see what you think!

Here's a link to the book on Amazon, and another link to the authors twitter.

https://www.amazon.ca/SINthetic-Lyons-Sequence-J-T-Nicholas-ebook/dp/B071HCW3KK/...

https://twitter.com/JamesTNicholas

Thanks for reading! Check out this review and more at my blog.
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