The Immortality Virus

by Christine Amsden

[Kim Deister]

The Immortality Virus is set in the mid-21st century, in a a world far different than that which we know today. Centuries ago, a virus was found that stopped the aging process in humans. Life and society has changed drastically since The Change. Life has largely become a "everyone for themselves" fight for survival. Starvation and slavery have become everyday concerns for most of the population because of the ever increasing number of people. Centuries after the change began, blacklisted PI Grace Harper is hired to find the man who is responsible for the virus that created The Change. Within hours, she is also recruited by the police department to investigate the man that had just hired her. Caught between the two opposing parties, Grace has a choice,... between finding a way to fulfill both requests or to die.

Science fiction and dystopian fiction never used to be among my favorite genres, but the more I read of it, the more I enjoy it. This book is a true example of one to enjoy. The plot, while complicated at times, was absolutely engrossing. There were a lot of twists and turns, and far more than two single sides fighting one another. At any given time, Grace had several factions after her. Yes, there were times when that got a bit confusing with so many different "enemies" involved. But I think the confusion for the reader was deliberate as it completely reflected Grace's own confusion. That confusion is also what kept me completely into the story, always wanting to know what was really going on. I just couldn't put it down!

The world the author created, with bits of my own reality mixed in, was an entirely believablepossible future. I like dystopian fiction that makes me question things and this definately made me question a lot of things. Seeing the world and society in this book, would I really want to live forever? The lack of humanity in the dystopian world was horrifying and very sad. It was almost a question of whether there had been too much technology and not enough humanity involved in advances that would drastically change the world as we know it. The scrabbling, fight of survival existence that went on in the book was an exaggeration of some of the outer fringes of our own society today and that made the world of the book that much more believable. All in all, I felt like it was a brilliant book!