Villordsutch reviews Afterparty by Daryl Gregory…
If you wanted to be glib about this book you could say it’s a basic gumshoe novel of woman who thought she was out of the world of Numinous (brain altering drug) and was dragged back in due to the suicide of young teenage girl on said drug. However, if you’re being glib about this novel you’re a fool as this book is far, far more than a mere gumshoe novel. This novel is a Detective, Thriller, Science-Fiction, Tragedy, Comedy, Social Commentary and Angel Sword Wielding novel all rolled up into one. Granted only Lyda can see the sword wielding angel but it’s in there.
Lyda is a sharp-tongued psychiatric patient and she is currently detained as she was one of the four people involved in the drug-induced brutal murder of her wife; her wife who had spiked, with a brain altering drug, the champagne drank by the four people accused of murdering her. The drug in question is Numinous, a drug that can make people feel so happy and well with themselves they believe they can see and converse with their God – even Atheists such as Lyda. When a teenage girl is brought into the detention facility with Lyda and shows the signs of withdrawal symptoms of the previously unreleased Numinous and then kills herself, Lyda decides she needs to find out who’s making the drug and put a stop to its production quickly.
Set just far enough into our near-future to have its foot planted in the believable we see Neo-religions appearing in abandoned shopping centres, “Chemjets” that “print” recreational drugs with recipes being found easily on the internet, prostitutes that can send their profiles wirelessly to would be buyers cars as they drive by, the use of drugs in society has become the norm for work related tasks and unfortunately the by-product of this is the burnout people suffer pushing themselves too far on said drugs.
Afterparty’s tragicomedy doesn’t however grab you by the neck and scream its sermons in your face, demanding you pay attention. Instead they are delivered within a number of different parcels from very smart humour, occasionally crude humour too, cutting wit and situations which can be heart-warming or breaking and when the PTSD, agoraphobic cowboy appears it’s neck breaking or suffocating. Along with that we also have an amazing array of players acting as mirrors for us, andsome are fantastic: Millies who are a Millionaire female Afghan drug club, started by non-profit, Canadian, charitable donations when they were forced to flee Afghanistan when the Taliban moved back in, in 2020.
It’s been a while since I have read a book which has left me smiling every time it’s wandered into my head, with its humour and its take on both society and religion. Normally when a book wades in on both the two big’uns of “Society and Religion” it’s a pitiful attempt and it feels like you’re being spoken to be a misinformed fourteen year old, angry at their parents for choosing a PS4 instead of an Xbox One, or so heavy on the preaching you need to take a shower afterwards, but with Afterparty you come away smiling to yourself and feel that bit more informed, like you’ve just sat in on a very humourous debate, but with more Angels and ex-CIA agents than usual.
Definitely a book you need to buy and of course read.
Afterparty is released on the 22nd April 2014 through Tor books.
Villordsutch likes his sci-fi and looks like a tubby Viking according to his children. Visit his website and follow him on Twitter.
Originally published April 18, 2014. Updated April 12, 2018.
