The Quantum
Hannu Rajaniemi
Tor, May 10 2011, $24.99
ISBN: 9780765329493

Mysterious Mieli breaks out master thief Jean le Flambeur from the infamous Dilemma Prison run by the Archons of the Sobernost collective of the Inner Solar System. Flambeur never thought he would escape from the eternal mind boggling incarceration in which he was deftly mentally tortured into participating in games against himself in which he either killed or was killed by Flambeur.

His liberator takes a grateful Flambeur on her sentient ship to the Martian moving city Oubliette where the commodity markets include the selling and buying of time. The Tzaddiks law enforcers send Detective Isidore Beautrelet to do grunt field work on Mars. Soon the thief and the cop intersect with neither any longer sure of their past or present as memory is sold along side of time on the exchange.

This is a great intelligent science fiction thriller that uses quantum physics theories fueled by the seven deadly sins to take a fabulous tale. The story line is convoluted and difficult initially to grasp as Flambeur competes in deadly games against himself; he even conceals his most significant secret from himself. This may be the best quantum spin which grasps the scientific theoretical complexities inside of an exhilarating thriller since Vanna Bonta’s 1998 Flight or perhaps the 1980s Professor Q books of Trevor Hoyle.

Harriet Klausner