Identity Theft

Detective Alex Lomax is hired to find Cassandra Wilkins' missing husband Joshua. But it's hard to find someone when their mind has been transferred to a new "body" designed to survive the Martian atmosphere and terrain. Is Joshua in his own "body" or did he transfer to someone else's? And if he did, why? And is Cassandra a frightened, clueless wife or is she complicit in the disappearance?

Robert Sawyer creates a fun novella that takes place mostly inside a biodome on Mars. I like that it is a novella. Sawyer didn't drag the story out. Anthony Heald's narration is fun as well.

I enjoyed this hard-boiled detective story with a twist. The twist is that it is set on Mars. Otherwise it is quite a bit like a Dashiel Hammett story. Of course, the fact that people can transfer their brains into constructed bodies and never age does pose somewhat of a challenge. After all, how do you have a murder when bodies are almost indestructible? But, trust me, Sawyer figures out how to do it.

Excellent science fiction short stories from an award winning writer.
Stories include "Shed Skin" which was a Hugo award finalist,
"Identity Theft" which was nominated for a Nebula award and Hugo award,
and "Ineluctable" which won an Aurora award, plus13 other stories. Some Canadian content but most pieces have universal appeal. Highly recommended.

Robert Sawyer writes great short stories. I enjoy science fiction that puts ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances and isn't afraid to speculate about what the future might be like if say, one day, we could upload our brains into an android body and in that sense, live forever. What then happens to the "original"? Read Robert Sawyer for some intriguing ideas.