The Halter

Combining the inventive worldbuilding of Philip K. Dick and the elegiac longing of Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye and for fans of Ready Player One and Rabbits, The Halter by Darby McDevitt (lead writer for Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag) is a debut sci-fi novel that fuses cyber-noir, psychological suspense, and high-concept speculation in a breakneck search for truth inside a utopian metaverse on the verge of collapse

In a world where virtual addiction kills, Kennedy Stark is paid to pull the plug. A professional halter—part detective, part counselor—he trawls the world’s darkest surrogate-reality feeds in search of the lost. When he isn’t working, he’s dreaming of a one-way ticket to Mars, where a new colony has been established as a hopeful alternative to an Earth in the early stages of climate collapse.

One evening, after a botched rescue attempt, a mysterious client offers Kennedy a tantalizing new case: brilliant software engineer Delia Walsh, who Kennedy fell in love with years ago, has disappeared inside a surrogate reality project called The Forum. Entering under an assumed identity, Kennedy finds a simulation unlike any other. The Forum bills itself as a tool for cutting-edge scientific research and radical philosophical investigations, but the signs of its corruption are everywhere. As Kennedy investigates, he learns Delia had been working on a new simulation that could upend The Forum’s primary purpose, and that even in this prurient playground for the super wealthy, the dangers are very real.

Brimming with black humor, hardboiled attitude, and a cast of endearing misfits lost in brittle fantasies, The Halter introduces a charismatic detective and heralds a unique and assured new voice in sci-fi crime.

About the Author :
Darby McDevitt is a writer and game developer best known for his work on the Assassin’s Creed series of video games. He served as lead writer for Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag and as narrative director for the forthcoming Assassin’s Creed: Codename Hexe. His short fiction has appeared in Exquisite Corpse, Jeopardy, Griffel, and In Pieces: An Anthology of Fragmentary Writing. McDevitt is a dual citizen of the US and Canada and lives in Montreal.

Review :
“Assassin’s Creed game developer McDevitt shines in his sci-fi noir debut, plausibly imagining a future in which many have become addicted to ‘surrogate realities'....McDevitt’s Chandleresque protagonist finds the path...challenging and hazardous, creating a gripping and twisty mystery for readers. Fans of Nick Harkaway will be riveted.”
—Publishers Weekly “Darby McDevitt channels his world-building brilliance into his sci-fi debut—cinematic, exhilarating, and deeply satisfying."
—Jean Guesdon, Creative Director of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag “McDevitt's striking debut imagines a dark future that seems all too possible, and serves it up with a bourbon on the rocks. A propulsive Neo-Noir that asks the big questions, The Halter is a triumph.”
—Chris Wooding, author of the Darkwater Legacy series "McDevitt's debut is a detective story that blends the real and virtual worlds, and asks if putting the virtual power of gods in the hands of enterprising coders and hackers—and the corporate interests backing their efforts—is really a good idea."
—Booklist