If there is any justice, the excellent conspiracy thriller Whole Wide World will vault award-winning author Paul McAuley into the front rank of bestselling authors.

In the wake of a virulent "information war," England has become a police state with surveillance cameras on every street corner, linked by an evolving artificial intelligence. The government controls all access to the Internet. Privacy is a fantasy. Porn is illegal. But a young British woman manages to transmit her sexual escapades over the World Wide Web--and the acts culminate in the live broadcast of her own murder. But even as another woman is slain in the same manner, the war veteran-policeman Dixon finds himself being pressured off the case by powerful sources ranging from his superior officers to the dead woman's uncle, the powerful CEO who created the artificial intelligence that sees all and, perhaps, knows all.

Paul McAuley has received the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the Philip K. Dick Award. --Cynthia Ward


From Publishers Weekly
On the heels of last year's near-future novel, The Secret of Life, British author McAuley offers a stunning thriller set in London less than a decade in the future. The U.K. has been transformed by three events: the Infowar, which has wiped out most of the nation's stored computer records; the rise to power of a right-wing government sworn to eliminate all pornographic and violent materials, both hard copy and electronic; and the development of ADESS, the Autonomous Distributed Expert Surveillance System, a huge network of security cameras all guided by an evolving AI, all feeding their information into various police security computers. A market for pornography still exists, however, and young Sophie Booth, a London art student, aims to please, putting on shows for her adoring fans before her apartment's live webcams. Unfortunately, she opens her door to Mr. Wrong one day and is gruesomely murdered in front of those same webcams. A down-on-his-luck London police officer, his career nearly destroyed by false allegations of cowardliness during the Infowar, finds himself at the center of the investigation. Resented, even hated by his fellow officers, threatened by a mysterious and vicious hacker, he puts his life on the line to bring Sophie's murderer to justice. McAuley effectively combines traditional techno-thriller and police procedural techniques with a clear sense of where the World Wide Web at its worst may be going to produce a highly effective, well-crafted and unusually gritty novel that should please fans of both thrillers and computer-oriented hard SF. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
The Infowar has come and gone, and London now boasts surveillance cameras on every street, Internet censorship, and stronger security measures against information piracy. When a young woman's graphic murder becomes fodder for Internet voyeurs, a London policeman makes solving the murder his personal duty. The author of the far-future "Confluence Trilogy" (Child of the River, Ancients of Days) demonstrates his talent for creating an sf conspiracy thriller set in a near-future that is both disturbing and plausible. A good choice for most sf collections with crossover potential for the suspense and intrigue audience. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
In this near-future thriller, the information revolution has changed the face of Europe. Surveillance technology is everywhere; the Internet has allowed everyone to know everything about everyone else. The setting is London in the years immediately following the InfoWar: without privacy laws, secrets are nearly impossible to keep, and--for a detective trying to resurrect his stagnant career--solving a homicide requires a combination of computer wizardry and shoe leather. McAuley gives us a unique crime (a young woman is murdered, the killing broadcast over the Internet); a devilishly clever villain (the Avenger, who likes to taunt his pursuers by e-mail); and a down-and-out copper who stakes his professional future (and his life) on solving this one case. McAuley touches on some stimulating sociological questions--how, for example, can a police force retain its effectiveness when everyone can see everything? Mostly, though, this is a gritty police thriller, sure to satisfy readers who like to see nasty villains get what's coming to them. Although technically science fiction, the novel will appeal equally to mystery readers. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Book Description
London, in the aftermath of the Infowar. Surveillance cameras stand on every street corner, their tireless gaze linked to an artificial intelligence system. Censors patrol the borders of the Internet. A young woman is murdered before the gaze of eager voyeurs.

A policeman sidelined to a backwater department seizes on the chance to contribute to this high-profile murder case, but soon finds himself caught up in a web of intrigue. Why was Sophie Booth's murder broadcast over the Internet? What is the link between her murder and London's new surveillance system? Who is the self-styled "Avenger," and why does he communicate only by e-mail?

Whole Wide World is a gripping conspiracy thriller set in a world where information is the universal currency and some people will do anything to be able to control it.



About the Author
Paul McAuley was born in England on St George's Day 1955. He has worked as a research biologist in various universities, including Oxford and UCLA, and for six years was a lecturer in botany at St Andrews University. The first short story he ever finished was accepted by the American magazine Worlds of If, but the magazine folded before publishing it and he took this as a hint to concentrate on an academic career instead. He started writing again during a period as a resident alien in Los Angeles, and is now a full time writer.

His first novel, Four Hundred Billion Stars, won the Philip K. Dick Memorial Award, and fifth, Fairyland, won the 1995 Arthur C. Clarke and John W. Campbell Awards. His other novels include Of the Fall, Eternal Light, Red Dust, Pasquale's Angel, the three books of Confluence, Child of the River, Ancients of Days, and Shrine of Stars, The Secret of Life, Whole Wide World, and the forthcoming White Devils. He has also published two collections of short stories, The King of the Hill, and The Invisible Country. A Doctor Who novella, the Eye of the Tyger, is due from Telos Books in November 2003, forty years after the author was scared behind the couch by the Daleks, and a third short story collection, Little Machines will be published by PS Publishing in 2004. He lives in North London.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

London, in the aftermath of the Infowar. Surveillance cameras stand on every street corner, their tireless gaze linked to an artificial intelligence system. Censors patrol the borders of the Internet. A young woman is murdered before the gaze of eager voyeurs.

A policeman sidelined to a backwater department seizes on the chance to contribute to this high-profile murder case, but soon finds himself caught up in a web of intrigue. Why was Sophie Booth's murder broadcast over the Internet? What is the link between her murder and London's new surveillance system? Who is the self-styled "Avenger," and why does he communicate only by e-mail?

Whole Wide World is a gripping conspiracy thriller set in a world where information is the universal currency and some people will do anything to be able to control it.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

On the heels of last year's near-future novel, The Secret of Life, British author McAuley offers a stunning thriller set in London less than a decade in the future. The U.K. has been transformed by three events: the Infowar, which has wiped out most of the nation's stored computer records; the rise to power of a right-wing government sworn to eliminate all pornographic and violent materials, both hard copy and electronic; and the development of ADESS, the Autonomous Distributed Expert Surveillance System, a huge network of security cameras all guided by an evolving AI, all feeding their information into various police security computers. A market for pornography still exists, however, and young Sophie Booth, a London art student, aims to please, putting on shows for her adoring fans before her apartment's live webcams. Unfortunately, she opens her door to Mr. Wrong one day and is gruesomely murdered in front of those same webcams. A down-on-his-luck London police officer, his career nearly destroyed by false allegations of cowardliness during the Infowar, finds himself at the center of the investigation. Resented, even hated by his fellow officers, threatened by a mysterious and vicious hacker, he puts his life on the line to bring Sophie's murderer to justice. McAuley effectively combines traditional techno-thriller and police procedural techniques with a clear sense of where the World Wide Web at its worst may be going to produce a highly effective, well-crafted and unusually gritty novel that should please fans of both thrillers and computer-oriented hard SF. (May 21) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

The Infowar has come and gone, and London now boasts surveillance cameras on every street, Internet censorship, and stronger security measures against information piracy. When a young woman's graphic murder becomes fodder for Internet voyeurs, a London policeman makes solving the murder his personal duty. The author of the far-future "Confluence Trilogy" (Child of the River, Ancients of Days) demonstrates his talent for creating an sf conspiracy thriller set in a near-future that is both disturbing and plausible. A good choice for most sf collections with crossover potential for the suspense and intrigue audience. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews