alibi

Author: lostluck

content/posts/2025-01-15-alibi.md

@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+---
+title: 'Quick Book Review: Alibi'
+date: 2025-01-16T05:45:48.000Z
+tags: [book, review]
+categories: [Review]
+---
+
+I finished reading Alibi by Sharon Shinn.  I liked it.
+
+It's got the tagline "Romance. Teleportation. Murder."
+
+I was intrigued, so I picked it up.
+
+<!--more-->
+------------
+
+Set in the future where teleportation is ubiquitous, how does one actually maintain
+an alibi?
+
+Alibi tells the story linearly. With the one exception
+of the opening page being set at the accusation, the story is told as the
+characters have lived it.
+
+The murder doesn't happen until the last few chapters of the book, but with
+careful reading, it would be possible to piece together whodunit once it takes
+place. The clues are all laid out as the protagonist experienced them, but it's
+not as though each one is highlighted significantly.
+The occasional passing reference is all it takes.
+
+I was hoping the teleportation was going to factor into the mystery a bit more
+but the author spent the effort to make it feel as commonplace as possible.
+We're exposed to the lived experience of the teleportation system existing, from
+transport passes to safety features and world building.
+There was a certain bit of romance to the convenience of being instantly anywhere
+and the enterprises that built up from the network.
+
+Over the four and a half months of the story, we see the characters build relationships
+to each other. As the story rolls along, some of the less believable parts from
+the initial encounters make sense.
+
+I have two complaints.
+
+The murder victim is built up as possibly too heinous and irredeemable.
+A cartoon of villainy. It felt too over the top for me. They didn't need to go nearly as
+far to make it plausible for all the suspects to have a motive. Conversely, the
+son character that was beloved by all, was possibly a bit much on the sweetness side.
+
+That said, seeing the state of the world, I can only believe that both of these
+people exist somewhere.
+
+The latter is that it was cringey for the speculative future slang words to be
+developed. Might be my 90s disaffected-youth, too-cool-for-school type picture
+of teens that I grew up with, but I winced nearly every time one was introduced.
+
+It was a fun read, but certainly not a must read. I liked it.