Burn by Jonathan Lyons

Burn is a creative look into all-too-possible future. Comparable to something from Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Jonathan Lyons has brought forward a fast-paced and highly intelligent science fiction novel brimming with a solid mystery and highly accented with nail-biting suspense. Janice Gild hires Cage, former police officer-turned private eye. Her brother, James, is dead. He burned to death. Janice needs Cage's help to find out what really happened to her brother. Maybe the only person with answers is the tough, sexy and independent Jonny Cache, ex-girlfriend of James. Up against the odds, and as more people burn to death, Cache and Cage join forces to figure who, or what is behind the spontaneous combustion's. With gripping chapters, equally gripping characters, a carefully, well thought out plot, Lyons has written an impressive debut novel. Entering his world was complete. He is talented in his craft and I eagerly anticipate his next novel.

A great first effort! Reviewer: Midwest Book Review (see more about me) from Oregon, WI USA It has been a while since this reviewer tried her hand at the Science Fiction genre, and it is a welcome journey. Domhan books (Irish for universe), is based in the U.S., UK and Ireland. Its mission is to give new writers a voice; experienced authors a new outlet; to bring books to market sooner; keep them in print longer; to break down barriers in genres; and to offer affordable books. They use the latest digital technologies and produce their books in both a paper and electronic format on a global basis. Burn is Texan Jonathan Lyons' first book. It is twenty-first century New York. John Cage is an ex-cop whose lost his job and his future wife when he ran up against the mighty Expedite Corporation, the foremost computer corporation in the world. Science has eaten its own tail. The skies are filled with acid rain; and humans coexist with androids, Morlocks, binaries, and other assorted chip fanatics. The entire world is on the "net," StellarNet that is...and it functions as "Big Brother." Cage is approached by Janice Gild, whose brother died in a singularly horrific way...by human combustion. When Cage investigates Gild'sapartment looking for clues, he sees someone watching him through the window: "Moving around to the far side of the bed, Cage found himself looking absently through the greasy smear of the rain on the man's bedroom window, outinto the drizzle, into the darkness of the night, into -- into a window in abuilding across the street, to a backlit, overcoat-clad figure who's just realized Cagehad spotted him. The figure put something down -- a camera? Small telescope?--and disappeared." Scientific science fiction must now be subdivided, to include the category of computer-geek science fiction. Burn is a horrifying look at what over-computerization, coupled with unleashed corporate pursuits, can do to our world. As Lyons so aptly conveys in Burn, if science andcomputers are not kept in check we could be left with a world with no beauty, no wood, and no humanity left. It is interesting to note that Lyons can't help but give his androids human characteristics...a la"Star Trek: Next Generation." Burn is a powerful computer/technologicalscience fiction thriller that leaves room for us to grieve for lost humanity. Great first effort! Shelley Glodowski, Reviewer

An amazing book. It sweeps you right into the action, and the world created is both unique and familiar. I liked the strong women characters as a balance against the men, especially the hero, brooding and tough but decent, and the fact that he kept us guessing all the time. The only let down is that this author hasn't written any more books like this for me to enjoy--maybe a sequel?