Ghost of the Neon God

A razor sharp novella that reads as if it's coated in teflon. Napper serves up a grim cyberpunk world in a futuristic Melbourne that spreads out across the Nullabor and ends with the reader asking, "Is this some happy ending or is it something I should be very worried about?"

Jack is the son of Vietnamese migrants, and that is where any follow-on from Napper's previous 36 Streets starts and ends. He's a small time crook who gets swept up in a matter of international importance. Trouble is, all he did was steel a pair of shoes. Within days he's being pursued by firstly a modern day ninja, then a carload of corrupt police officers, and then anonymous men in black four wheel drives. It's the full catastrophe.

And there's also Sally. She thought she was merely giving a ride to a fellow university student. Melbourne uni is not what it used to be.

As Jack and Sally race across the country Napper spices up their existence with the unexpected presence of a sentient AI. So it seems we now have three people in the car, each one trying to work out what went wrong and how they are going to fix things.

This is a book that I wanted to go on well after it ended. The characters are real people, the pace is rapid and the story takes them into dark places. As Napper delves into what it might mean to have an AI implant adding to human brain power his treatment of the topic is well balanced and always on point for the story.