Fiction Reviews
Extremity
(2025) Nicholas Binge, Tor, £16.99, hrdbk, 163pp, ISBN 978-1-035-08586-6
This is a standard, modern police procedure that quickly moves into exotic territory before coming firmly SFnal… Julia Torgimensen is brought out of forced retirement by her former police boss, DCI John Grossman, to advise on a murder under the supervision of a comparative rookie, DC Mark Cochrane. The murder victim is Bruno Donaldson, a billionaire. It is clear that both Julia and John have a history, but Bruno Donaldson was in the sphere of those involved in the earlier case that saw Julia relieved from duty.
The investigation is barely underway when a second body is found elsewhere. The problem is that this body is identical to that of their victim, Donaldson.
Soon Julia and Mark are on the hunt for an elusive murderer but themselves come under suspicion when the first person they go to interview, another of the ultra rich, gets shot in front of them…
To say much more would enter us into spoiler territory., suffice to say you, a fairly seasoned SF reader, will have had a bell ring in knowing that two victims were identical! Indeed, it soon becomes clear that this is no ordinary police procedural yarn, but something that is firmly SF.
Indeed, what Nicholas Binge has at the heart of Extremity, not one but, at least two major SF tropes going on! This being a novella, there is not much space in which to tell the story, so each page has to do its share of heavy lifting.
The story is told from three points-of-view: Julia, John and Mark, sometimes with the perspective changing after little more than a page. This enables the story to unfold at a breakneck speed and also facilitate substantive information dumping as matters progress. In short, this novella is something of an action-packed page-turner as the stakes ramp up.
What we have is a solid SF story that entertains, so much so that SF readers will want more. However, this is a novella and the major genre tropes presented do not have the space to breath: to be explored in any depth. Instead, we must accept them for what they are and move on to uncover a conspiracy that threatens the future of humanity itself.
Personally, I would have liked to know more, and – while the book end satisfactorily enough – we are left knowing that in the future there is extinction-level trouble. All of which means that this begs for a sequel. Alas, I am not sure Nicholas Binge is going to give us this: perhaps it is best for the reader to be left wanting more? Yet were a sequel forthcoming, I'd happily devour that.
Apparently his previous novel (and it is a novel, not novella), Dissolution is being adapted for the big screen. Another of his novels, Ascension, is also being adapted for film. And the author himself has been short-listed for a Good Reads Award, which is no mean feat. While I felt that this novella was not as complete as it might have been had we got to know more of its SF dimensions, but clearly Binge is a writer to keep an eye on. If he can make it to the next level, it may be that in a few years' time we will find him on the long- or even short-lists of major SF awards? We will see.
Jonathan Cowie
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