Book Review - Cold Wind Blowing, Greg Leunig

A citizen of Alaska's Arcology 1 has gone missing. For the first time in any domed city, cybernetically enhanced gene-hounds fail to pick up the victim's scent. After three years behind a desk, Special Agent Julius Weaver takes the case and quickly finds himself tangled in an underground of fringe science that endangers not just him, but all citizens of Arc 1. 

Will one obsolete Federal agent be able to stand toe-to-toe with giants and secure justice for the forgotten?

If he's lucky, he might elude a bullet to the back of the head from an underworld mobster, a fiery death from an ageless corporate fixer with murderous intent, and a frozen grave beneath the howling storm outside. 

And if he’s not so lucky, he might be the next to vanish without a trace.

So this is a short and sweet novella, sitting at around 160 pages. It starts as it means to go on, launching us into the kind of case that the X Files would have enjoyed, not waiting for us to catch up. I like that. 

Luenig’s style is good: he’s a no nonsense, all about the story kind of author. The world building is excellent: we’ve got a domed city set in Alaska, with gene hounds, weird tech, we’ve got the Speak Easy, FBI, and all the rest. 

Our three main characters are easy to like, easy to get to grips with, but my personal favourite was the hapless scientist who quite quickly gets into his stride and becomes quite the souped up Watson. 

The pacing here is fast: it has to be, being a novella, and having such a wide world stage. We’re launched fast into what appears to be a missing persons case, but isn’t, and soon we get a good slice of scifi rendered Tom Clancy action. 

My only real niggle for this is it could have been a bit longer. I say that being a massive fan of the novella: but some of the situations were solved a smidge too easily, and a little expansion would have done wonders. 

Finally, this book ends on a cliffhanger. It does resolve the main story, but it leaves it wide open for a sequel. If you’re the type that gets the rage from a cliffhanger, step away now. 

If you like future noir sci-fi with a good slice of X Files and Special Ops action, then this may well be for you.