Last Tango in Cyberspace: A Novel

A new sense has recently emerged among certain humans — an enhanced form of empathy — and these individuals (known as em-trackers) are capable of making connections, providing insights, and seeing ahead of the curve. Lion Zorn is famed for his previous work in em-tracking and ends up accepting a case involving the death of a hunter whose suicide appears motivated by a sudden burst of empathy. As Lion Zorn meets with shadowy corporations, dangerous thugs, enlightened beings, and new subgenres on the rise, he discovers he’s in a race against time to find something that could unite humanity… or accidentally destroy it.

Last Tango in Cyberspace is like a cyberpunk version of Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, combining associative thought, coincidences, randomness, philosophy, and a cast of social outcasts into a very peculiar, yet very immersive, reading experience. It combines the paranoia of Philip K. Dick with the social consciousness of Octavia Butler and the cagey forecasting of Robert J. Sawyer.

Some readers will have a hard time making it through the first fifty pages because it feels like not much is happening (although the author is carefully laying the groundwork for both the protagonist and the setting). But those who persevere will find a marvelously unique novel waiting for them.

My only issue is with the title, which is undoubtedly cool but doesn’t fit the story at all.