Company Town

Company Town is the story of Go Jung-Hwa, the half-Korean, all Newfie daughter of an embittered ex K-Pop star working as a bodyguard for the sex workers' union, on an oil rig city off the coast of Newfoundland. Whew - that was enough to sell me.

Hwa suffers from Sturge-Weber Syndrome that leaves her with a port-wine stain across her face and body as well as leaving her prone to seizures. Most would have had the necessary implants to cure the disease but she's financially unable. Instead, as a purely organic, non-augmented human she's essentially un-hackable which proves beneficial when she's tasked with being the bodyguard to the young scion of a powerful tycoon that has essentially purchased the city Hwa lives in.

This is the definition of a page turner. Perfectly engineered to an almost insidious level to promote late night, “Just one more chapter” consumption. Ashby drops some serious beats throughout the story and pushes you right through till the end. Hits all the right sci-fi notes for me.