From start to finish in this book, Mars is a gritty, unwelcoming place. Everything is breaking down, hell, society is breaking down and folks are trying to leave. Including Steele and his family. His bounty hunter job for the government that he hides from his family reminds me of Repo (The genetic opera, not the movie) where there's a tough balance between familial deception and protection. The world's really well fleshed out, even though it's desolate and the plot's tight which works well for this novella.
***SPOILERS AHEAD***
Steele Really Hates Mars #1: Steele absolutely loves his government and is doing one last job for them. Yeah right, he can't wait to get the hell outta Dodge. His plan is to pack his family on the next shuttle off Mars and take them to his folks' farm. That way he can cut his ties with the world he hates, a government he thinks is corrupt as shit and finally live a normal life rather than a double one, hiding his real career from his wife and little girl.
Steele Really Hates Mars #2: He follows leads, most of them going in nice roundabouts, leaving a trail of bodies as he goes. Finally, he manages to make it to the tunnels with a clear idea of where Pierce is. Down there he fights some big ol' mean monster, yet another reason people stopped mining down there. Once he gets to the lab though, he fights and kills man, thinking it to be his twin brother, Pierce. Funny thing though, it's not. In a great twist, it's a clone which mean's Pierce is steps ahead of him.
Steele Really Hates Mars #3: Steele races back home to his family, but already knows he's too late. His brother planned this out perfectly, pretty much taking his identity and ensuring that Steele's wiped off the map. (taking his fingerprints, making sure Steele's are screwed up) Pierce boards the shuttle with Steele's wife and children, leaving our protagonist helpless to do anything but watch as his evil twin brother assumes his identity and takes over everything good in his life, leaving him in the place he loathes.
I loved the tie-in with the October rain at the end and I loved how the plot circles back to the beginning scene where we originally find Steele a crumpled, bleeding wreck, staring out at a city that he hates more than anything. A tight plot and a very well developed world make this a fun read.
Rating: 4
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