The award-winning Scottish crime author Chris Brookmyre tweeted a one-star Amazon review he received for his new novel, Places in the Darkness, earlier this month. “This needs a ‘serious science fiction’ warning, in capital letters,” raged the reader, who’d clearly been expecting another slice of Brookmyre’s excellent tartan noir. “I feel kind of bad,” responded Brookmyre, brimming with sarcasm. “My publishers should maybe have put a space station on the cover or something.”
Brookmyre is, it’s true, better known for his crime novels, particularly those starring his doesn’t-do-things-by-the-book reporter Jack Parlabane; the recent Black Widow won him both the Theakston crime novel of the year and the McIlvanney prize. Places in the Darkness does indeed see him boldly going into the realms of science fiction, so count yourself warned – if that space station filling the front cover hadn’t already given it away. It’s set on Earth’s first space station, Ciudad de Cielo, known as CdC, or Seedee. Built 70 years ago, with 100,000 residents, it’s “as close to a city without crime as mankind has seen”. There’s never been a homicide before, but Brookmyre opens with a doozy, his new setting allowing a writer who has never been afraid of diving right into the visceral side of a crime a whole new dimension to play with.
Related: Bedlam by Christopher Brookmyre – review
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