Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Tom Sweterlitsch

 

Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Tom Sweterlitsch

I have a confession to make: with the exception of Neal Stephenson's Snowcrash, I have always struggled with Cyberpunk as a genre. Not because I don't like the premise, but because I find the layers of real/virtual hard to navigate as a reader. Not so with Sweterlisch's Tomorrow and Tomorrow. There was a slight confusion at first, but it was quickly past me. The novel is set in a not so distant future where the city of Pittsburgh has been rased by a terrorist dirty nuke 10 years in the past. Dominic, our lead character, was out of town when the tragedy happened, and lost his pregnant wife to the nuclear ashes. Since then, a virtual reality version of pre-nuke Pittsburgh, the Archive, has been built on the basis of all existing video footage and enhanced by VR to make it feel real. Dominic spends most of his time reliving his experiences with his wife there, and earns his keep exploring the Archive to settle insurance company claims about the diseased. Until, that is, someone approaches him to trace a woman who is systematically being erased from the Archive... Gripping, thrilling and powerful. Absolutely loved it, very highly recommended.