Scott Mackay

From Amazon:
In the midst of a February cold snap and the political maneuverings of a new government that threatens the jobs of good officers including his young partner, Detective Barry Gilbert of the Metropolitan Toronto Police Force Homicide Squad is called to investigate the murder of Cheryl Latham, the stepdaughter of a prominent government official. Cheryl, her body frozen, is found on a snow-swept pier at the harbor with a bullet in her chest. Autopsy reveals a bizarre clue -- Cheryl froze to death first and was shot later, after she was already dead. So begins a baffling trail of evidence. As the strange and perplexing evidence mounts, Gilbert feels he's being led from clue to clue by an outside ringmaster. Probing deeper in Cheryl's dark past, he discovers the terrible secret she's hidden all her life. He's forced to confront his own values, and learns that even the best detectives can lose their judgment at the most crucial moments -- often with the deadliest of consequences.

My Thoughts:
This was an excelled police procedural novel. Barry Gilbert, the underpaid homicide detective, felt like a really well-made comfortable old shoe. The Toronto setting was realistic without sounding like the author spent his whole day on Google Maps. This was the first book I had read by this author and will certainly give him another try.… (meer)

Orbis is an alternate history science fiction novel. In it the Benefactors, aliens posing as angelic beings, have set up a world wide theocracy with them in charge. In this alternate history, the earthly enemy of the Benefactors, the Romans, left earth on spaceships two thousand years ago.

I found the premise in the beginning of the novel to be quite intriguing and interesting. The novel is very much plot driven, however, and suffers slightly in the middle where it slowed down. Obviously since this is an alternate history, you have to suspend disbelief. Some of that disbelief involves the Catholic Church (which is the system the Benefactors use to control humans) and Native Americans (who are depicted as savages confined to the Restricted Zone). I'm hesitant to say Mackay is showing prejudice by these depictions. I think it was all a device, a tool, he used to highlight the alternate history. I'm not sure all of it was completely necessary, however. In the end I don't think the message was as much anti-Christian as it was aimed against blind faith in following an institution.

I would have rated this novel as highly recommended until the last quarter of it. At that point I felt Mackay was coming out as a bit too strongly opposed to organized religion, even though I understand the novel is fiction. It was interesting and I will read another Mackay novel. Recommended, with reservations. http://shetreadssoftly.blogspot.com/
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Phytosphere is a tale of alien invasion and postapocalyptic survival in the distant future. And, why yes, it is a good combination.

When negotiations for immigration rights fail, the alien Tarsalans surround the Earth with a mysterious green, light-blocking shroud, dubbed the phytosphere. The Tarsalans consider the phytosphere a teaching tool, while Earth considers it a declaration of war. The action follows the Thorndike brothers, Gerry and Neil, as they try to discover a way to eliminate the phytosphere. Gerry is on the moon when the Phytosphere is put into place while Neil is on the Earth. Also stuck on the Earth is Gerry's family, wife Glenda and their two children.

The group on the moon trying to discover a way to eliminate the phytosphere follows Gerry's leadership at first, while on the Earth, Neil, Gerry's arrogant brother and scientific advisor to the president, summarily discounts any information that comes from the moon, believing he is the only one who could possibly discover a solution. The back and forth debate on how to destroy the phytosphere between the brothers could have easily become boring but Mackay keeps the story moving along by following Glenda and her children's harrowing tale of survival amidst chaos as society breaks down. Glenda's story really is the more compelling one until the end, and it creates some real tension and a sense urgency for one of the brother's to discover a solution.

Personally, I appreciated the hard science fiction elements along with the postapocalyptic tale. Mackay expertly wove the stories of the various characters together. The main characters were well developed and the suspense kept building right up to the end. (While I could get nit-picky over a few minor details, following my suggestions wouldn't have made the story any better.)
Highly Recommended; http://shetreadssoftly.blogspot.com/
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