In a future where the world has regressed to theocracies after a particularly nasty war, only the religious are allowed access to the essential LINK. Deidre McMannus, excommunicated ex-cop, hasn't been LINKed since her partner went rogue and killed the Pope. Now a presidential candidate claims to be the Second Coming, supported by miraculous angels on the LINK. Dee is unconvinced by all this religious stuff -- until a real angel asks her to help stop the false prophets...
A curious mixture of cyberpunk, hard-boiled detective story, and weird theology, this is a great page turner. Dee is a strong character, put upon by events way outside her control, but always gutsily fighting back. The background details -- of the Medusa bomb, the Gorgons, the various religious factions, a Unitarian joke I hadn't heard before, and the whole bizarre lifestyle -- is cleverly woven into the plot, giving a solid background. (I would quibble a little about some of the computer terminology, were it not for my willingly suspension of disbelief. And I did get a bit lost sometimes -- was there a clue in Daniel's bible?) Although it is blindingly obvious from the start who the good guy is, and fairly soon who the bad guy is, most of the background details are introduced piecemeal -- no great gobs of infodump here. So, a good protagonist, a rollercoaster plot, and enough SFnal detail and world building to make this a fun read.
