Series: Ty Merrick #1
Date published: 1996
I have had the second and third books in this series for awhile now and finally picked up a used copy of book 1.
n the mid 21st century, the world as we know it no longer exists. The United World Government--with its endless rules and regulations--holds an iron fist over the planet's diminished natural resources. But some things never change--like greed, corruption and murder.
When the wife of a district councilman is murdered, Detective Ty Merrick and her partner LaRue are placed in the position of finding the killer. As their investigation into the murder progresses though they start to find clues that the murder might be linked to a past experiment done by members of the Public Health Organization (PHO), and the production of the street drug quantum. Detectives Merrick and LaRue need to find answers to the questions that arise and catch the killer before he or she kills again.
Detective Merrick on the other hand is infected with a disease. She believes that she has a lycanthropic condition. This is not considered an official disease however as each month progresses to a full moon Merrick suffers from seizures, and changes to her sight,hearing, and sense of smell as well as slight physical changes. Her problem is that her district health office doesn't take her seriously. Her previous Dr had prescribed light therapy which she doesn't have the energy credits to use long term. In the process of trying to get more from her taxman Merrick is placed under the supervision of Dr. Lane Gibson a neurologist. Who turns out to be an ally. Merrick is not the first werewolf that the good Dr. has encountered and wants to use his research and findings on Detective Merrick to get off of rotation duty and into a research facility with a grant. Her condition is unknown, is it a disease, a curse, a psychosis, or something else? Will they be able to figure out a way to he;p Merrick with her changes in order to keep her working on the case before the moon turns full?
One thing that I liked about the world that this story is placed in is the almost post apocalyptic setting it has. The world has been united under a world government with a tyrant ruler. The world has been divided into districts rather than countries. There is a unifying barrier language spoken by everyone. There is a system to keep resource consumption in check by the masses. Also the general populace believes in magic and curses as well as science.
Tell you the truth I picked up Majjin Moon and Opalite moon based on the covers. This book's cover also has that same element that first drew me to the books. We see what looks like Van Gogh's Starry Night painting with a cityscape behind the bush and under the star filled sky. At one point in the book Merrick mentions that after one of the events she starts seeing like how Van Gogh painted and that she suspected he may have been a lycanthrope as well.I felt like the main characters were a little flat at first, but we got hints of past history and they started to come more alive as the story progressed. This is mostly because you are thrown in this world with very little initial explanation of why the world is the way it is, and it starts off a pretty standard feeling police murder mystery. The book grabbed my interest because it reminds me at times of the Shadowrun games I have played in the past. I have enough interest in the story to continue into the series, and to pick up the remaining two books that I don't currently have in order to read the whole series together.
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