‘Denver Moon: The Minds Of Mars is an SF adventure story set on the red planet but, due to a genetic condition our heroine, Denver Moon, can only see in black and white. Blood and gore are not so nasty that way and, in her career as a private investigator, she’s seen plenty. Denver is the top P.I. on Mars, ably assisted by an AI called Smith, whose concealed in her gun but can communicate via a chip in her head and contains her late grandfather’s memories.

A fit woman with bleached blue hair and Japanese features, Denver is the granddaughter of Tatsuo Moon, one of the original hundred settlers on Mars and co-founder of Mars City, a maze of tunnels more than fourteen levels deep. Tatsuo is gone, dead twenty years, but his old partner, Cole Hennessy, is still around and heads the Church of Mars.

Mars has a problem: Red Fever. It infects hundreds of people and, depending on their luck, turns them ‘bad-tempered, blind with rage or unstoppably murderous’. As the book opens, Denver goes to see Yazou and Aiwa Chen, also original settlers and like an aunt and uncle to her. Alas, they have succumbed to the fever. While Denver struggles for her life, a hologram of her late Grandad pops up with a message: ‘Mars is in great Danger. You must find me.’

So chapter one launches the story with a deadly plague and a mystery. Great hook! Tatsuo is supposed to be dead so Denver goes to speak to the last person to see him alive: Cole Hennessy. Mars City has three-quarters of a million inhabitants and a third of them swear loyalty to the church which promises that by stern discipline and rigid mental practice Red Fever can be avoided.

The story soon turns into a rip-roaring adventure with Denver on the run from assorted minions of evil out to kill her as she tries to dig up twenty-year-old secrets. The background, Mars City, is well realised and the story has all the paraphernalia of good Science Fiction from AIs and sexbots to spaceships and satellites. There’s even a mad scientist called Doctor Werner.

This solid yarn has three-dimensional characters, great plot twists and a terrific conclusion. The book also features a short story prequel ‘Denver Moon: Metamorphosis’, also available as a graphic novel, in which she investigates the dismemberment of ‘botsies’ (sex androids) in the lower levels of Mars City. It features some of the characters who figure in the main adventure. Add to that a twenty-page ‘sneak peek’ at ‘Denver Moon: Book Two’ and you get a lot for your money. I was also sent two ‘Denver Moon’ comic adaptations of the short story but reviewing them seems redundant. There’s even a soundtrack. Clearly, ‘Denver Moon’ is going to be a multi-media phenomenon so watch out for the stage play, film, musical and opera.

As for the book, hurrah! In truth, it harks back to the old Ace Double paperbacks of the 50s, novelettes with fast-moving stories that you read for a bit of good clean fun. I enjoyed it hugely and unless you are all literary and pretentious, you will, too.

Eamonn Murphy ( )

Pros: some excellent twists, interesting world

Cons:

At the end of a disturbing case involving red fever, a disease only found on Mars that makes its sufferers go violently insane, Denver Moon receives a message from her grandfather asking her to find him. But her grandfather’s been dead for twenty years.

I’m impressed by the amount of world-building the authors managed to squeeze into this novella. While not bogged down by exposition, you learn about the early settlers, the project to terraform Mars, the Church of Mars, the red tunnel, the red fever, and more. It makes the city feel lived in, old in some ways but still a risky venture in others.

Denver’s an interesting character with a past that’s hinted at in relationships and cases, and her transforming gun that’s had her grandfather’s memories uploaded into it. I liked that Nigel is shown as more than just a sexbot. While Navya comes into the story late, I thought she was a good addition to Denver’s skill set, and while they had to make up, it was nice seeing female friends.

There is a graphic novel prequel to this that you don’t have to read to understand this, though it does flesh out one bit of history that’s referenced in this novella. The story it is based on, “Metamorphosis”, is included at the back of the novella, so if you want, you can read it first. I have to admit I’m not sure how I feel about the ending of “Metamorphosis” as it references a marginalized community. Denver’s also quite racist (I’m not sure that’s the right word) towards the botsies. She doesn’t seem to have quite the same attitude towards them in the novella, so maybe she’s learned a few things between the stories.

After the short story, there is also a short preview of the next book in the series.

While I did figure out a few aspects of the mystery, I was completely blindsided by several others. The ending packed a punch.

Mars seems to be a hot topic in SF at the moment, and this one goes in a different direction, so it’s worth picking up. ( )