Volume one of the Virex trilogy, though it should be noted that Nights is entirely self-contained, and further noted that Virex receives only a throwaway, identity-establishing mention. A significant change of direction from Eric's previous work, and a rather tasty one – despite whole body virtual reality, ruthless corporations and artificial intelligence, this book's antecedents are Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett rather than William Gibson and Bruce Sterling; it's classic, hardboiled private investigator stuff.

Hal Halliday does his share of walking down mean streets, taking lumps from hoodlums (and giving them back in spades), and does all the familiar private eye business. With a slickly-twisting plot which keeps its secrets until the author chooses to reveal them, New York Nights is recommended, especially for those who like their tales hardboiled and, for all its SF setting, I'd also recommend it to crime and mystery buffs who might otherwise pass it up because it isn't, officially, part of their genre. (All of which doesn't mean that the approach may not change in subsequent volumes; I'm not about to second guess the author). •

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