Market Forces can make anything profitable. Step out of the shadows for just a moment and this would be our world. Truly, we're only a step away from this kind of thing. Indeed, it's fully supported by the media, with bookies and fans and talk shows interviewing the very best of the bloodied.
Think Blackwater and all these third-party militarizations, amp it up so only the best talent gets hired within these corporations, and you've got protection, assassination, government propping and toppling, and everything in between - for the highest bidder. Market Forces refers to the Capitalism of Force. However, when I read this from within its own premise and get into the characterizations fully, I'm really quite surprised at how good a thriller this is. The SF aspects are limited to some tech and a worldbuilding premise that isn't far off from what we have now. Morgan of Altered Carbon fame, you should know that this book is NOT of that vein. Would he be redeemed by turning into a kind of martyr, or would he meet some unspeakable fate ( neither - at the end of the story, he's still just a piece of shit, albeit a very wealthy one)? I feel like the book would have been better, had there been a character arc for Chris. The main character goes from being a piece of shit to being a bigger piece of shit, and after a while the only reason I was interested in him was to see what Morgan had in store for him. Everyone who's not peripheral to the story is a piece of shit. The only problem with the novel is the utter lack of characters for the reader to empathize with. Even the over-the-top elements that read slightly ridiculous in the retelling ( corporate executives fighting each other in Mad-Max-style road duels for promotion, or to win bids) are skilfully integrated into the narrative and somehow made believable. The writing style is dark and cynical, the story, save for a few snags, runs smoothly.
Morgan weaves a hard-hitting, violent near-future world where capitalism runs rampant (or has perhaps reached its logical conclusion).
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