Low level CIA operative Getty Pokem’s young daughter is caught up in an assassination and is accidentally shot. After receiving a tip off that somebody knows the identity of the killer, Pokem heads to meet the informant who is murdered before he gets to reveal any of the details. Digging deeper into the case, the agent is then attacked during a meeting with the mysterious Selena. There is conspiracy in the air and, with the assistance of his new associate, Pokem uncovers a plot to replace world leaders with clones and ultimately destroy the human race. Is it the actions of a crazed scientist or is it in fact a threat that originates from beyond earth? Pokem’s investigations into a potential alien invasion result in him discovering a suit of otherworldly design and a powerful spaceship. With this technology at his disposal he surely has all the tools he needs to take the fight to the killer clones.
KILLER CLONES, the debut novel from author WLVE (welove) is a very entertaining old style pulp sci-fi. There’s a touch of Philip K Dick in the set up, most notably echoes of the film version of Blade Runner, and the narrative is peppered with the kind of ultra-violence seen in the Robocop movies. There is drama and death from the very beginning. Before the end of the second page, a head has “exploded in a spray of cherry-red carnage” and WLVE keeps this pace up to the satisfying denouement. Born in Cameroon and raised in Italy, WLVE casts an outsider’s eye on the state of contemporary American society. In his sci-fi world there are analogous ideas relating to contemporary post-truth politics, the rise of right wing evangelists and xenophobes and the resistance movements like Black Lives Matter and the anti-gun lobby who try to fight back. Though there are numerous satirical touches, often in the character’s names (e.g. the head of the book’s “National Weapons Association” is called Wade LaFarce), the novel never strays into spoofery but aims calculated and very pointed barbs at the extremes of America.
WLVE’s KILLER CLONES is a witty, incisive and well written debut that uses many of the familiar tropes of the spy thriller but elevates them with some swashbuckling old school sci-fi and pitch black satire.
~Kent Lane for IndieReader