Tomorrow’s World- Davie Harrison

Tomorrow’s World
Davie Harrison
Medallion, Mar 2008, $15.95
ISBN 9781933836355

The environmental disasters of the past century have taken their toll on the earth. However as a byproduct of the toxic wasteland, everyone lives in a computer controlled orb making the various hates like racism, religion, sexual preference obsolete. However, a new kind of bias has occurred between the “Name” natural born and the “Number” engineered lab rats.

Logipol policy is to assign a Name and Number as a police team to maximize the skills of both as the Name brings passion and dreams to a case while the Numbers bring superior mental and physical attributes. The brass assign “Name” cop Ben Travis and his partner “Number” cop Perfect Paula to investigate the death of Name plant dealer Douglas MacDougall. Paula believes he died from a self-induced drug overdose, more likely suicide than accident; Ben thinks otherwise as his gut screams homicide made to look like a suicide. The Name and the Number follow the clues trying to resolve their difference re the death of a Name.

Extrapolating the environmental trends of today into the next century Davie Henderson paints a dismal picture of a dying globe in this interesting science fiction police procedural. The story line is at its best when the Name and the Number argue the case; when the plot turns to the past global environmental disaster and its consequences, it loses steam as that feels more like a preacher shouting brimstone. Still this is a fine start of what looks like a solid twenty-second cop series in which hopefully Mr. Henderson explores the newest form of prejudice by looking into the relationship between the two cops.

Harriet Klausner