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Today we have a cyberpunk novel by Jacob Prytherch: The Real Thing.
Roman Rasnic, AKA the Black Cat, is a chemist turned black market peddler of a drug he invented called "Cupid." It allows people to experience the sensation of intense love towards whomever they want. This has proven quite profitable to him in future Japan. Unfortunately, it also causes him plenty of problems. Cupid caused one of Roman's marks to go insane and become dangerously obsessed with him. If that wasn't bad enough, his former business partner wants revenge on him, and his wife steals his supply of Cupid and proceeds to flood the streets with an even more dangerous version of the drug. Roman must track down the elusive Medea, rid Techosaka of the inferior concoction before any more people die from overdosing on it, and salvage what remains of his reputation. But no one is what they appear to be, and few can be trusted. Can Roman find redemption and true love for himself?
This could have been an excellent novel. Story-wise, The Real Thing is a gripping adventure, and Roman is a likable protagonist. Unfortunately, a complete lack of editing brings it down. I honestly don't think Jacob Prytherch put even the smallest effort into polishing this story. Typos and grammatical and formatting errors are all over the place. Because of the strength of the story I was able to keep reading to the end, but this kind of thing shouldn't have happened.
Bottom line: If you can get past the shoddy editing, you'll find an engaging story. But at 99 cents, you get what you pay for.
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