DEAD GIRLS

Soon after the creation of lifelike robot women is perfected by Cartier, a mysterious virus absorbs their characteristics and infects human womenturning them into ``dead girls'' with doll-like roboticized bodies, but having the needs and habits of vampires. Worse, the males they come in touch with become carriers of the virus. In London, Primavera Bobinski contracts the virus and begins to turn into a teenaged dead girl; her boyfriend, narrator Ignatz Zwakh, rapidly becomes addicted to her weird, painful charms. As the virus spreads, the governmentnow controlled by the Human Frontblockades London. To escape, Primavera and Ignatz must find the secretive Titania, a dead girl whose infection has conferred extraordinary mental powers, such as pyrokinesis and telepathy, upon her. Reaching Thailand, Primavera goes to work for porn queen Madame Kito as an assassinuntil the CIA's Jack Morganstern captures Primavera and Ignatz in an attempt to extract information about Titania. Unable to resolve the problem of who's controlling whom, and for what purposes, Primaveranow damaged by nanotech robots injected by Morgansternand Ignatz must flee into China in search of help. Wild, daring, confused, brash, pyrotechnic, but with some fascinating ideas bubbling up: an intriguing and encouraging debut.