A Murder of Clones

November 3, 2014
Clone family arguments produce corpses in this involving far-future thriller (following 2012’s Blowback). Earth Alliance marshal Judita Gomez, responding to a request for assistance from an alien race applying for Alliance membership, discovers a hidden enclave of clones busy hunting each other. After rescuing three, she watches, horrified, as the enclave self-destructs. Fifteen years later, when Earth’s moon is assaulted in repeated terrorist attacks, she is upset to find that the suspects are more of the same clones. Rusch creates a well-populated and morally shaky setting where clones are property and full humans act more alien than the extraterrestrials. The action sequences are sometimes rushed, but the ethical conundrums are examined in the right amount of detail. Fans of Rusch’s Retrieval Artist universe will enjoy the expansion of the Anniversary Day story, with new characters providing more perspectives on its signature events, while newcomers will get a good introduction to the series.