Atria, 2023. 320 pages. Sci-Fi
In an alternate 2009, the United States has been a second-rate power for a quarter of a century, ever since Argentina’s victory in the Falkland’s War thanks to their development of “psychopigments.” Created as weapons, these colorful chemicals can produce almost any human emotion upon contact, and they have been embraced in the US as both pharmaceutical cure-alls and popular recreational drugs. Black market traders illegally sell everything from Blackberry Purple (which causes terror) to Sunshine Yellow (which delivers happiness). Psychopigment Enforcement Agent Kay Curtida works a beat in Daly City, just outside the ruins of San Francisco, chasing down smalltime crooks. But when an old friend shows up with a tantalizing lead on a career-making case, Curtida’s humdrum existence suddenly gets a boost. Little does she know that this case will send her down a tangled path of conspiracy and lead to an overdue reckoning with her family and with the truth of her own emotions.
I'm a big fan of works that blur the lines between genres, and Pardo manages to do that beautifully here. This work is a combination of the gritty noir and hardboiled detective stories from the early 20th century on one hand, and the post-apocalyptic alternate history science fiction on the other. The idea of weaponizing human emotion is fascinating and refreshing, though I wish there had been more of a good twist at the end. And as an Argentine American myself, I secretly relished in this world where Argentina was a superpower, conquering both the Falkland Islands and Great Britain (even though Argentina is made out to be the bad guys; haters gonna hate).