Chimera

The protagonist of Shetterly's competent and fast-paced new SF thriller (after Dogland)DL.A.-based private detective Chase ""Max"" MaxwellDhas the usual helpings of streetwise attitude and noir sensitivity; he's a classic down-and-out, low-on-cash, cranky PI who's a sucker for a sexy client. But as a citizen of Shetterly's hazily imagined future, he's also got a pocket inside his wrist where he keeps his gun. Desperate for money, Maxwell has accepted a case from an exotic, genetically engineered chimera named Zoe DomingoDwho's half jaguar and half human. In Maxwell's world, chimeras are regarded as slaves and animals, and Zoe's in a heap of trouble. She's wanted by the police for the murder of her adoptive mother, artificial intelligence expert Dr. Janna Gold. Things turn from the standard bad to the standard worse: Maxwell's erstwhile love interest, a cop assigned to the murder investigation, turns out to be a robot assassin who proceeds to kill Max's first lead in the caseDa non-human-rights lawyer named Amos Tauber. Meanwhile, the cops (and plenty of other bad guys) are looking for a powerful, earring-shaped device that Gold gave Zoe before she died. After a few shootouts, a car chase or two and a change in Maxwell's outlook, the PI finds himself following clues back to Oberon Chain, head of the pro-chimera-rights Chain FoundationDwhose charitable activities mask his true intentionsDand to Zoe, with whom he's fallen in love. Plenty of action, engaging characters and multilayered intrigue keep this story humming, but Shetterly's engrossing imaginary world never quite comes to life in the manner of, say, Jonathan Lethem's similar SF-noir classic, Gun, with Occasional Music. (July)