New York Dreams
In the third and final instalment of The Virex Trilogy, private detective Hal Halliday is spending more and more time in VR to escape the harshness of the real world. Casey, his girlfriend, is with someone else, but things with the virtual Casey are idyllic...
In a futuristic variation upon the modern detective story, we follow Hal as he returns from retirement, seeking the answer to the mysterious disappearance of his ex-girlfriend, last seen with a child prodigy and an unknown older man. We accompany him during his encounters with the jaded individuals who now occupy sullied Manhattan and share his anguish at the gradual realisation of the devastating effects that VR is having upon his fellow citizens, rapidly losing their abilities to interact in the real world. Ironically, their inadequacies are mirrored in Hal's own physical demise, but true recognition of this cannot occur until he successfully unravels the truth...
Will the VR companies perfect the technology to sustain citizens in virtual reality for extended periods? And will Hal sign up, turning his back on the real world for good?
Eric Brown
Eric Brown began writing when he was fifteen years and sold his first short story to Interzone in 1986. He has won the British Science Fiction Award twice for his short stories, and his novel Helix Wars was shortlisted for the Philip K. Dick award. He has published sixty books, and his latest include the crime novel Murder Take Three, and the short story collection Microcosms, with Tony Ballantyne. He has also written a dozen books for children and over a hundred and forty short stories. He writes a regular science fiction review column for the Guardian newspaper and lives in Cockburnspath, Scotland.
The Virex Trilogy
The Virex Trilogy consists of three books. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.
