The world in this book is extremely well-realized. Michel must have spent a ton of time putting together the details of it. You could carve a half-dozen dystopian novels from elements that this book treats as ephemeral. It’s a hellscape of corporate ownership, environmental disaster, body modification and surveillance. So much of the world building was reminiscent of the film version of Minority Report.

The story itself was a little less compelling. It’s a kind of murder-mystery, kind of. It’s pitched as a noir, but much of it almost felt like YA, along the lines of Ready Player One. The writing itself didn’t have a lot of character – there wasn’t a lot of style or tension, again making the noir label feel a bit unearned.

The sports elements of the story had similar issues, and I say that as a lifelong baseball fan. Again: as part of the world, the corporate domination, the ethics and business of body modification, as an extension of the modern(ish) steroid debate, these were interesting things that were under-explored.

But the story itself, the World Series as backdrop for all the intrigue, just failed to connect. So much of it felt like a 90’s movie screenplay. The action didn’t really have a lot of momentum, there were so many brief asides for snappy dialogue that felt misplaced, and few surprises.

I’m excited to see what Michel does next. His Substack is a solid read, and he seems like a thoughtful and interesting guy. There’s a ton of potential here.