Narcissus

by Don D'Ammassa

Book Overview

Sandor Dyle had nearly been killed when he agreed to help track down a serial killer. Now he is aboard a luxury starship on its maiden voyage and he just wants to relax. But murder and sabotage interfere with his plans.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0692420061
• ISBN13: 9780692420065
• Release Date: March 2015
• Publisher: Managansett Press
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.76 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Murder-Mystery on a Luxury Starliner

The more things change, the more they remain the same. Despite interstellar travel and advanced artificial intelligences running the ships and catering to the passengers, there are still very human faults and emotions that lead to mysteries and death. Sandor Dyle may be styled as a famous pattern analyst who does consultations, but we can easily recognize him as kin to all those private consulting detectives in fiction. And to prove it, even when sabotage disrupts the computing systems so that his usual figures and statistics are unavailable to him, he still uses the little gray cells to solved the mysteries: both of the sabotage and of the murder of one of the passengers--an infamous former planetary dictator with a dark past and many enemies. The mystery itself was satisfying. There was the sabotage and the murder and a cast of usual and unusual suspects. There were clues enough to be able to solve it if you wished, or just go along for the ride. All the conventions one expects in a traditional murder mystery are there, enough to make one feel at home. And there was the futuristic setting, which was comfortable for any reader of SF, but fun to see in juxtaposition with an old-fashioned mystery. There are not many chances taken here, and not a lot of new territory, but this, also, is acceptable in such a formulaic murder mystery. I have to say that it was nothing amazing, but still a solid read and I'd be interested in reading more, which is about all I can ask of a book.

fantastic double mystery science fiction thriller

Sandor Dyle is a galaxy famous patterns analyst who has solved some very high profile cases. At the moment he is on vacationing traveling on the starship Helen of Troy with his friend and companion Maryum Dunnis. There are two artificial personalities on board; Mennor who has the personality of a grouchy old man and Eco who deals with the public evoking the image of a sexy siren. Dyle wakes up one night and feels something is wrong and the room is ominously quiet. The Captain asks him to help identify a saboteur-killer on board. He accepts because of the challenge and because he doesn't want any more trouble on board. While investigating the sabotage, one of the passengers Magnus Mercator, hated throughout the galaxy because of his war crimes committed when he and the Lysandrans took over his world of Cathanor. He became their puppet leader and when the aliens were thrown out, Mercator was exiled. The thinking is that Eco, who has the ability to watch over anyone on the ship, was destroyed in the explosion so that someone could kill Mercator. Dyle isn't so sure so he studies the patterns seeking to hone in on the killer. Don D'Ammassa writes a fantastic double mystery science fiction thriller. The differences between artificial personalities (AP) and Artificial Intelligences (AI) play a crucial role in the resolution of the mystery even though it doesn't reveal which being committed the sabotage. The description of the ship with all its advanced technology enables readers believe they are visiting a time in the future in space. The author is a great worldbuilder who will appeal to fans of mysteries and science fiction. Harriet Klausner