Killer in the Retroscape

In 2068 St. Louis, Missouri, Dr. Douglas (Doug) Michaels finds his lifelong friend, Josh Unger, dead in his home. When law enforcement concludes his death was a suicide, Doug and his wife, Ali, are dumbstruck; they wonder what could explain such a needlessly violent and lonely death in a future where such actions are unimaginable. Trying to unearth a killer, be it either flesh and blood or the cumulative stress of life, Doug creates a mental landscape of Rick’s past, a retroscape, starting in the mid-2030s.

Among its landmarks are:
• An illness, sensationalized in the media as the “zombie pandemic” that drives a wedge between husband and wife, parents and children.
• Cryptic communications between Josh and an “after-life specialist” who peddles immortality services.
• A mysterious phrase uttered at the assassination of a government official that ties it to Josh’s death 14 years later.
• Josh’s machine-intelligence wife, Julia, who may hold the secret to his death…if she can only remember.

In the end, determining guilt in a retroscape littered with suspects tells Doug more about humanity, technology, and himself than he ever would have imagined.

Bruce Perrin has been writing for more than 20 years, although you will find most of that work only in professional technical journals or conference proceedings. But after completing a PhD in Industrial/Organization Psychology and spending many years in the research and development of advanced learning technology with a major aerospace company, he’s now applying his background to writing novels. Not surprisingly, most of his work falls in the techno-thriller, mystery, and hard science fiction genres. In addition to pounding the keyboard, Bruce likes to tinker with home automation and is an avid hiker, logging nearly 2,500 miles a year in the first five years of Fitbit ownership. When he is not on the trails, he lives with his wife in St. Louis, MO.