- Title:
- The Man in the Cloud
- By:
- Dale Rominger
- Pages:
- 244
- Rating:
- 2
Things are not going well for Drake Ramsey. Sales of his latest sci-fi adventure novel have been abysmal. His woman is being head-hunted for a prestigious academic position in Seattle, of all places. And it is becoming increasingly evident that his six-year-old daughter is smarter than he is.
But it’s his best friend Gerard who is facing the real crisis. Gerard works on the cutting edge of AI development and robotics. Who is responsible when an android he has programmed commits a murder? The net tightens around Gerard, and only Drake can save him. The mission takes Drake to a dingy bar in Taipei, through Seattle’s buried city, to an orphanage in Ukraine. Drake will solve the crime—that’s just what he does. But can he resist the advances of the ravishingly beautiful robotics expert on Gerard’s team?
I really couldn’t decide if Drake was meant to be played for laughs or if that’s how we’re supposed to view an all-American dreamboy. A failing author with tonnes of prior backwater experience in journalism that makes him amazing? The whole “call me Drake” thought got old fast, and the utter lack of observation that could see him and his family interacting with AIs but not putting the picture together makes me think the author was intending humour. It didn’t really work.