Rosen, Lev AC

Rosen’s deftly clued, noir-tinged plot successfully walks the line between hope and heartbreak, all while thoughtfully exploring the role of family in our lives. This fresh take on the classic private investigator begs to be brought to the big screen.

Simone is a female detective in the Kinsey Millhone and V.I. Warshowski mold: tough, tenacious, and pragmatic. The real star of this noir take on dystopia is the crumbling, barnacle-encrusted landscape of New York, where the ocean has risen 20 stories and homes and businesses are either partially flooded or floating. Rosen's (All Men of Genius) future world is a dark place, reshaped by intense climate change and suffering under dogmatic religious fanatics.

This debut literary steampunk novel fits well on the shelf with Gail Carriger's "Parasol Protectorate" series (Heartless), with broad crossover appeal to fans of sf, historical romance, and young adult fiction.