A Justified State
In the future, The State is ruled by the socially reformist Central Party Alliance. Poverty and homelessness have been eradicated, but overpopulation, an energy crisis and an ongoing overseas war are threatening the stability of the country. When a local politician is assassinated, Detective Danny Samson finds himself thrust into the middle of the investigation. Still grieving for his dead wife and children, Danny tracks down the assassin, an ex-military sniper called Gabriella, only to discover she may not be the real villain. The secret behind the murder of one politician may bring down the entire ruling Party, and Danny soon learns those in power will go to any lengths to protect The State. Joining forces with Gabriella and the mysterious government agent Phillips, Danny must unearth the truth and bring the guilty to justice, before they catch up with him first.
I became aware of Iain and his flash fiction writing when I joined Friday Fictioners, having decided to follow his blog I am treated to his writing on a regular occurrence. So imagine my excitement when I noticed he had published a novel.
I am not sure how I would describe A Justified State to a friend but in the centre of the story there is a crime fiction story which we all know I enjoy. This is also a Si-fi / Dystopian novel of how our world could be in the future. When Iain described the landscape and the things that were happening some of it felt a bit to close to home.
At times I got quite frustrated with the Detective in this story, whether intentional or not I felt like the character was just floating along in life and just getting by. Not really bothered about his job he was just there so be there. At time I kind of wanted to shake him and tell him to pull himself together.
I felt that Henrik was well placed to be Danny’s partner, someone who was so blinded by what was going on to not notice the cracks in the wall so to speak. Especially as he was the chief of police’s son, special placed to keep an eye on the investigation and report back to daddy. Not wanting to give away the ending, but I hope the actions we have seen in this novel improve lives when.
After reading the book I couldn’t help but wonder if Detective Phillips and Gabriella had been in it together from the start? Detective Phillips only really came to life part way through the book. After being a silent bystander for most of the beginning of the book. But the characters are both written in such away you realise they don’t know each other. But maybe that is intentional.
One thing I can say for certain the imagery in this book in immense, I could see the book playing out in my head as I turned the pages. I wasn’t able to read the last page as the tears began to stream down my face, feeling a really connection to those characters and their journeys and the ending.
I wonder where Iain will go next with this, will he write more about Gabriella and Phillips or was that the last we see how them. What ever he does I’ll be in the queue for the next part.
I hired this book from the Amazon library and I am more than happy to go back and pay for a copy.
@Iainthekid
A Story About A Girl 