RED DIRT GIRL

In this futuristic mystery, a detective investigates the death of a woman who recently miscarried an illegal pregnancy in a world where a eugenics-type program limits who can give birth.

Detective Cooper-Clark, working on a contract basis for “Citi” police, lives in a society where men are “snipped pre-birth.” They must qualify for the “Life Program,” administered by a company called Gencom, to become fertile again and get a female partner to have sex and breed with. There is “a lot of anger at the Program,” muses Coop, with women typically more sexual since they remain fertile. But they have to apply to the Program if they want to get pregnant legally. Coop gets assigned the case of the brutal sexual assault and murder of Viki Dotti Jansdottir, 22, a “red dirt girl” from “the Banleus, the desiccated post-urban sprawl outside the Citi.” Viki recently miscarried an illegal pregnancy, which had caused strife with her musician boyfriend, Seth, who is not in the Program and thus a “certified infert.” Coop follows various clues, including the “bio trace” found on Viki’s body, and feels glimmers of a mutual attraction with Lyse, a soon-to-be college student who recently joined Seth’s band. Eventually, Coop discovers the “social dynamite” that drove a “terrorist” to kill Viki. Lupton’s novel is a cleverly crafted realization of how, as Coop notes, “plans that require humans to do what the modellers predict” tend to run amok. The narrative effectively weaves in and out of several characters’ perspectives, keeping Coop (and readers) off-kilter in determining the murderer. The book highlights the dangers of genomic sexual engineering and perhaps environmental destruction given that the Banleus has “relentless dust and the remorseless advance of the insects.” Holding readers’ interest throughout is Coop, who in his youth “sought out vintage detective stories in any shape or form he could find” and serves as a wry Raymond Chandler–esque commentator on this strange world.

A haunting, engaging dystopian whodunit infused with qualities of classic crime noir.