"Binaries" are genetically engineered assassins - twins inhabiting a single consciousness - in Christopher Hinz's future world "Paratwa" saga. In <em>Binary Storm</em>, computer programmer Nick Smith and Annabel Bakana, the new director of an organization trying to control runaway tech growth, team up to combat binaries. But there's a mole in the organization. It's not likely to be a binary because they aren't able to withstand distance from one another for any length period of time. ...unless they've overcome this obstacle in their genetic engineering? But it could be a sympathizer - a binary wannabe. In either case, it means trouble.

I was hooked from the very first pages of the story. Hinz sets us up with a really exciting action sequence which then leads into the introduction of the major characters and a description of what we're up against (the binaries). I wanted to know more and to know what would happen next and that desire to know never left - keeping me turning pages throughout.

And while the action is exhilarating it is the characters and the mystery at hand that really moves the story along. Nick and Annabel are great protagonists working in an atmosphere of political and business intrigue with technology run amok and exemplified by the binaries.

<em>Binary Storm</em> is a prequel to Hinz's Paratwa series which perhaps explains why there is as much set-up here as there is. But I note that the three books making up the series after this prequel are by a different publisher, making me wonder if there will be more to come here with Angry Robot.

While the binaries still seem like a science fiction concept, everything else in the story feels frighteningly possible.

I've come away a fan of the author and the series, which I will now seek out.

Looking for a good book? <em>Binary Storm</em> by Christopher Hinz is a fast-paced action/adventure mystery with some smart science fiction surrounding it and worth reading for fans of the genre.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Published by Angry Robot on November 1, 2016

Binary Storm is a prequel to Liege-Killer. Binary Storm introduces the Jeek Elemental known as the liege-killer, but it sets up a good bit of background before reaching that point.

In 1995, Nick Guerra was nearly stabbed to death. One hundred years later (after napping from 2010 to 2086), Guerra is in the unsecured part of Philadelphia to meet Ektor Fang, a Paratwa assassin. Like all the Paratwa, Ektor occupies two bodies. From Ektor, Guerra learns that the Royal Caste, consisting of a special breed of genetically engineered binaries known as the Ash Ock, is scheming to create a world in which the Paratwa rule.

Guerra works with the nonprofit Ecostatic Technospheric Alliance (E-Tech), an organization dedicated to “putting the brakes on unfettered science and technology.” Christopher Hinz nevertheless envisions some cool futuristic tech that E-Tech hasn’t managed to suppress.

Guerra is trying to get intelligence information to the E-Tech leadership when the leadership changes. After that, his self-imposed mission is to go after the Paratwa. He hits upon a scheme to turn a Paratwa against other Paratwas. The rest of his scheme involves training a specialized team of four fighters in a special technique to defeat the Paratwa.

Binary Storm takes place on Earth, before humanity’s flight from Earth that precedes Liege-Killer. Hinz fleshes out the background that gives rise to his earlier, post-apocalyptic Paratwa novels. The ease and prevalence of gender change is one of the points he emphasizes, giving it an interesting twist with the notion of “gender vacations.”

Guerra brings with him the guarded optimism of the late twentieth century as he confronts the pessimistic sense of doom that dominates the late twenty-first, providing a philosophical spark that gives depth to the story. For the most part, however, this is an action story, and there is enough futuristic fighting to keep action fans happy. Hinz delivers the action in a fluid writing style that makes Binary Storm easy to read. Some aspects of the lengthy novel come across as filler, but Binary Storm is a strong introduction to the earlier Paratwa books, which are more intense and, for that reason, somewhat better.

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