SHADOWS OF VERISIM

This first installment of Campbell’s Verisim Chronicles series pits a detective living in a digital wonderland against a killer who wants to destroy the entire virtual world.

Set in a near future when existing in a video game trumps living in a brutal reality torn apart by war and economic and environmental collapse, patrol officer Dylan McKnight has spent years squirreling away money so that he and his wife Sara can purchase citizenship in Verisim, a seeming digital utopia that hides a thriving criminal underworld beneath the towering glass monoliths and flashing neon lights. But Sara refuses to go, not wanting her physical body to waste away in a stasis pod while she exists in an artificial reality. Dylan goes without her, leaving her to fend for herself in a world gone insane. Two decades pass, and Dylan, now a detective in Verisim, is assigned a case involving the death of a prominent congressman’s daughter. He soon becomes the prime target of a mysterious killer who wants to destroy all of Verisim and its millions of inhabitants. The strengths of this novel are undoubtedly the author’s employment of gritty atmospherics and meticulous worldbuilding. Campbell’s depiction of a just-around-the-corner America feels chillingly prescient: “Clusters of people, detached from the crumbling world, were plugged into their own digital escapes. They sat under makeshift canopies, VR headsets strapped to their faces, their bodies barely moving except for occasional spasmodic twitches that spoke of other realities.” The lead character, however, comes across as a bit cardboard, an amalgam of outdated noir stereotypes. It is to be hoped that in future installments this “seeker of hidden truths in a world veiled by digital illusions” will be explored with more depth and insight, because whether the author is embracing tired cliches or paying homage to beloved tropes, this story is a page-turner.

A compellingly dark blend of noir, cyberpunk, and dystopian fiction.