The Last Resort

Starred review from November 14, 2022
Set in 2034, Kaufman’s stellar sequel to 2021’s The Last Exit presents Washington, D.C., police detective Jen Lu and Chandler, the biocomputer implanted in her neocortex, with a complex murder case. Patty Garcia, “Time Magazine Person of the Year for leading the landmark civil suit against the oil, gas, and coal giants” and a rumored presidential candidate, was golfing in Rock Creek Park, repurposed for commercial purposes after Disney bought the National Park Service, when she was apparently accidentally struck in the head by a golf ball. The blow knocked her unconscious, and she died soon afterward. The fatal golf shot came from an apparent stranger, hedge fund CEO Peter Trebook, who was in the group playing after Garcia and who denied any ill intent. Despite Trebook’s credible testimony, which convinces even Chandler, Lu believes Garcia was murdered. Acting on her suspicions, she follows her squad’s mandate to “take creative initiatives to investigate crime,” despite the danger to herself. The near-future worldbuilding, the pacing, the plot twists, and the characters are all top-notch. Kaufman remains a rising talent. Agent: Ginger Curwen, Julia Lord Literary.

November 15, 2022
An offbeat police team probes a series of high-profile murders. In the 2030s, Washington, D.C., police detective Jen B. Lu catches the weird case of celebrity lawyer Patty Garcia, killed on the Viridian Green golf course, presumably by a flying ball. Jen's sidekick and amanuensis is in her head, a synth implant named Chandler who calls Jen "boss." Chandler crisply tracks specific dates and times and often presents data in detail-heavy paragraphs. Providing welcome contrast is Jen's banter with her significant other, Zach, whose new job as a climate activist has put a strain on their relationship. Jen's gut instinct that Garcia's death was no accident meets so much resistance from her superiors that she begins to doubt herself. But a second victim tips the doubters in her direction, and an investigation begins in earnest. Given Chandler's expertise, forensics plays a big role in the probe. Garcia's high-profile career made her a compelling target. Her championing of climate activists attracted enemies among big oil companies and angered right-wing militias as well. Could one of these groups include the culprit(s)? A continuing subplot concerns squad-room tension between Jen and her colleagues Les and Christopher, husbands as well as co-workers, that dates back to obliquely recalled incidents from The Last Exit (2021). Kaufman has a gift for snappy dialogue and relies on it heavily in Jen's interviews with persons of interest and squabbles with Zach. A third murder accelerates the inquiry to a solution. A quirky, fast-paced whodunit with a provocative take on the near future.

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