THE SANDCASTLE IN THE RAIN by SR Emonts

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date June 20, 2024

Earth, 2163. 15 years after a nuclear war, only 12 fledgling settlements of humans remain on Earth, in cities sheltered from the radioactive ashes.

Artificial life, the instigator of the war, was banished to the seven colonies. Only Doctor Wasserman and his band of Outcasts have managed to evade justice, striking at the Settlements from their hidden fortress in the forsaken wastelands, THE SANDCASTLE.

MOTHS, a special police unit that hunts Organic Hazards, are all that stand between humanity and destruction.

Yet Rookie Officer Joan Lyon cares more about finding her long lost mother than following orders, and her Training Officer, Peter Ramsey, merely wishes to run out the clock until he can retire and reunite with his family in the space colonies.

When Wasserman steals a datacore from Delphi Datacore, a company that can predict events before they occur, Joan and Peter aren’t just fighting the enemy—they’re fighting their own futures.

3 Criminals
2 Detectives
1 Mystery

•••••

REVIEW: THE SANDCASTLE IN THE RAIN by SR Emonts is an adult, sci-fi, post apocalyptic thriller set in the year 2163, fifteen years after a nuclear war, focusing on MOTHS training officer Detective Peter Ramsey, and twenty year old rookie Joan Lyon.

Told from dual omniscient third person perspective with first person thoughts and ideations, THE SANDCASTLE IN THE RAIN follows Peter Ramsey and Joan Lyon as they are tasked with taking down the people responsible for the theft of a datacore, and the possibility of a mole working on the inside. A group of resistance fighters known as Outcasts, those who have chosen to live outside of the settlements, are determined to stop the people in control, refusing to abide by the memory wipes, memory banks, AI, cloning, robots and more but as Peter and Joan continue their search for the Outcast fortress known at the Sandcastle, the reality of what is threatens the partnership and the existence of every living soul.

THE SANDCASTLE IN THE RAIN is a complex and multi-layered story, reminiscent of Blade Runner ™ with a little bit of I, Robot™ and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sleep™. A nuclear apocalypse has destroyed most of the planet with only a few pockets of domed, protected settlements. Technology is such that memories can be removed and stored; humans can be cloned; AI is a part of every day life, and robots do the menial labor that was once a fact of life. Those who live on the peripheral of society want changes, want control, and those in control want to keep the status quo but all is not as it appears to be, and Peter and Joan are about to discover there is more than they could have ever imagined.

I did have a few issues: the point of view changes between third person, and first person internal dialogue without notice; without breaks; and often without acknowledgement throughout most of the story. There are no italics or bold lettering to differentiate between third, and first person internal dialogue. The jumps occur within the same paragraph, and sometimes in the same sentence. I was confused at times, as some of the switch from third to first is acknowledged within the sentence or paragraph structure but the majority of the switches are never corroborated or recognized. I will be honest- I contacted the author regarding the POV jumps, and he claims it was intentional.

Overall, THE SANDCASTLE IN THE RAIN is a fascinating and thought-provoking story but the POV jumps was disconcerting and confusing.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy