Koko Takes a Holiday

April 7, 2014
The vigorous anarchic pulse of Shea’s debut is so propelling that it’s easy to forgive him for its many borrowed elements. The body count is high and the blood flows freely in this punk dystopian vision of the year 2516. Former gun for hire Koko Marsteller is hounded out of her position as the manager of an outer space bordello by former friend and ally Portia Delacompte, an executive in the Custom Pleasure Bureau. Pursued by three similarly ferocious female bounty hunters, Koko flees to Alaungpaya, a giant residential barge, where she joins forces with depressed former security officer Jedediah Flynn, who is about to take part in a ceremonial mass suicide. Shea tugs all these threads together without taking a breath; conversations occur as Koko and Jedediah sprint down corridors and race up hatchways, and hints of romance spark as they hide in an oxygen-deprived trash bin. The settings and action hold no surprises, but sheer velocity keeps the story rattling along like a big geeky pinball machine.

April 15, 2014
Brothel manager Koko Martstellar was living a comfortable life on the pleasure resort of The Sixty Islands, but her former career as a mercenary returns to haunt her in Shea's sf/crime fiction debut. Her former comrade-in-arms, who had helped her get her job in the "hospitality industry," suddenly and inexplicably hires someone to kill Koko. On the run, Koko heads to an orbital platform in the Second Free Zone where former policeman Flynn puts his suicide plans on hold to help her to evade those looking to collect the bounty on her head. VERDICT Shea takes us 500 years into Earth's future, a place apparently decadent and war torn in equal measure. Reminiscent of Takeshi Kovacs from Richard K. Morgan's "Altered Carbon" with a dash of "Tank Girl" attitude, Koko is a memorable character. The violence is quite extreme, so the squeamish should probably look elsewhere, but this is a fun gender reversal of your typical shoot-em-up sf.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 15, 2014
Set five centuries into the future, this first novel begins in a resort complex, the Sixty Islands, where elite brothel owner Koko Martstellar narrowly escapes an assassination attempt. Fleeing to the orbital community known as the Second Free Zone, Koko is astonished to learn that her old friend, Portia Delacompte, is behind the assassination. While Koko is trying to figure that out, Portia is trying to figure out something just as bafflingwhy she ordered the death of her friendfor her memories concerning the hired hit seem to have vanished. This futuristic wild ride starts out quickly and doesn't really slow down until it's over. You would think such a breakneck pace wouldn't leave much time for character development, but Shea skillfully weaves characterization into dialogue and the thoughts and actions of the people in the novel. The use of the present tense certainly helps make the story feel urgent and immediate, too. We get caught up in Koko's predicament and are carried along with her as she desperately tries to keep herself alive until she can track down her would-be assassin. Great fun and a fine introduction to an author with a distinctive style. Expect more from Shea, perhaps in several genres.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)