A Million Monkeys

As a sci-fi novel overwrites her reality in blood, a detective explores what it means to be sapient in an increasingly hostile universe. Author Karin Cather bends genres in this excitingly gritty page-turner.

Anyone in the galaxy could have killed Glenn Sommars. He was demented, abusive, and a Nazi to boot. Examining his myriad gunshot wounds, Detective Eliza Benveniste wonders whether this was a crime of passion or a steady-hearted execution. But the book says it was his son.

Yes, the book. In a bestseller set light-years away, Cody Sommars kills Glenn identically-with a finishing lasepistol blast to the throat. Speculative and grisly, the novel provides fascinating insights into another world-and an extending trail of blood in this one.

A murderous author? A fan turned copycat killer? Eliza's theories aren't adding up, and her cagey partner's distress grows with every new death-each one increasingly grotesque and inescapably book true. Even her confidante, the ever-rational Dr. Badri Trivedi, is starting to consider more ludicrous explanations.