Mycroft Canner is an unlikely hero in a 25th century world where genetic engineering and redefined social structures have reshaped the world after the last great global conflict. The rigid factional Hive system has split governance between seven groups, all given a specific mandate and protected sphere of influence that they use to shape the world to their ends. But the survival of the Hive reigns above all else.

Canner, the lone survivor of a bombing that killed his family, committed crimes that horrified the world. But his unique skill set made him an asset to the Hive leaders. To atone for his crimes,Canner is sentenced to life as a servicer, to be of use to others.

He is called in to investigate a theft that has all the hallmarks of his own crimes. Someone is drawing attention to statistical blips that on their own mean nothing, but when taken as a whole could spell the end of the present utopian society. Mycroft knows the culprit is trying to make him the spark that will ignite war across the entire planet. Besides, Mycroft has his own secrets, one of which could get him killed. The other could change the fate of humanity forever. The crimes the Hives may need to commit in order to maintain world order may well eclipse the atrocities of Mycroft Canner, unless he is made the scapegoat.

This incredibly detailed unique world draws the reader into the labyrinthine networks of relationships. Stylistically written to mirror an 18th-century novel, it presents a protagonist who, by his own admission, isn’t a great role model. This is a densely populated universe that rewards the persistent reader.

Reviewed by David Johnson