Welcome to Ord City

A creative near future take on Australian immigration that parallels the present enough to be uncomfortable.

It’s 2030 and Australia has given up on it’s former immigration policies, instead new immigrants earn citizenship by spending 7 years within Ord city limits. Due to the amalgamation of refugees and rapid growth, the immigrant city of Ord looks and smells like a poor man’s Bangkok and gang murders are an everyday occurrence. Thanks to politics Sydney based AFP Officer Conan “Tools” Tooley has to leave his air conditioned office to come down and investigate what seems to be just another gang execution. But much like the river that runs through the city, there is so much more danger lurking below the surface.
While Conan is busy getting beat up and laid, not always in that order, we are also sharing the experiences of members of budding religious sect and terrorist cells, and the road trip antics of some friends destined for Ord with darker intentions that witnessing “Illumination”.

Murder, damsels in distress, shady dealings and a whole lotta crocs.

I was attracted to the snappy cover art but stayed for the tale of murder and intrigue… and the possibility that one of the characters may say something like “that’s not a knife, this ‘ere’s a knife.” The politics surrounding immigration and radical sects will feel familiar to anyone keeping up on the news and hopefully helps fuel some self reflection for folks. While I didn’t find Conan himself to be a very likeable character, he shags and endangers women faster than James Bond - I did enjoy the supporting cast and the word building; besides being a protagonist doesn’t guarantee readers don’t wanna punch ya.

A fun weekend read for fans of darker humor, detective work, mystery - and from the vantage of An American reader, a bit of an Aussie holiday.

A trigger warning for some folks, there is sex in this book and it is not always consensual - this bit seems to be glossed over the characters but these acts would be considered sexual assault.

This is good, not great. The author writes well and has a good sense of humor. I didn't always stay engaged and didn't enjoy all of the characters. The book has a creative plot and well told overall. A different kind of thriller.

Thanks very much for the review copy!!

this was a really unique read, the characters were great and I really enjoyed getting to know this universe.

Conan works for an Australian police department in a futuristic setting (2030s). Australia is dealing with a wave of refugees and the country is divided on the matter of allowing the refugees permanent citizenship status or keeping them contained in Ord City on temporary and restricted citizenship. As the Illumination (the granting of permanent citizenship to the First Wave of refugees) draws nearer, Conan spots a refugee downloading classified information from the Dark Web during his monitoring duties. He loses the suspect in the crowd and then must go to Ord City to investigate what seems to be a random gang murder. Once he arrives and begins investigating, something seems off, but the more he digs, the more he is shut down from the authorities.

This book is not at all the type of book I pick up for leisure reading, and I'm not sure what it was that compelled me to request it from NetGalley. I like mystery and conspiracy, but not so much the Tom Clancey'esque action. I also generally don't care for books set in the future because it is simply too much for me to wrap my head around. But this book - I'm so glad I was able to get a galley! I was hooked from the beginning! The setting was believably futuristic considering where we are in the present times as far as technology, laws, government, climate, etc. The ultimate issue of refugee becoming citizens is a very realistic and current issue as is the inner workings of power-hungry government officials. The action, murder, death and destruction were not described in over-the-top grotesque detail, but were also not white-washed; Deans struck a good balance with that. I can honestly see this book made into a movie, and a good one at that.

I am being very stingy with my 5-star ratings, so this one is a 4, but I wish I could give it a 4++.

Quite a large contingency of odd characters make up the city in this book. The way they all are forced to interact to survive leads to a tale that kept me up all night.