author : Michael Marshall Smith

Stark is a fixer, called in when all else fails. His latest job is to find Alkland, a senior person kidnapped from the Action Centre, one of many bizarre Neighbourhoods in the future city where he lives. It seems relatively straightforward to Stark, as he follows clues through the ultra-violent Red Neighbourhood, on to the retro Stable Neighbourhood, but nothing is as it seems, and soon he and Alkland find themselves fighting their way through the bizarre Jeamland.

This is a book of three parts. The riveting first part paints a surreal and hilarious picture of life in the varied weird Neighbourhoods, where you can be prosecuted for wearing the wrong colour jacket, blown up for being too tardy, or just blown up for no reason at all. This part is definitely the best. The second part takes place in the weird Jeamland, the land of dreams, and has a rather good dream-like feel to it. Then there's the last part, where things just get weird. Read it for the really great first part, the interesting second part, and plough through the last part just to find out what the frell is going on.