A Police Procedural in a future (2035), slightly dystopian Scotland.
What is “Rule 34”? Here it is: rule #34: – If it exists there IS porn of it.
Our hero – Liz Kavanaugh – is on the “Rule 34 squad” – which investigates crimes of ….uh…unorthodox, fringe and …uh…innovative nature.
Her career is a bit on the decline and she has been relegated to rule 34 squad – not really the prime place to be, but then….some ..uh…”unique” murders occur. She is pulled into an international investigation and I can’t say much more than that without giving it away. Lots of worldbuilding, ideas and technology that are about 5 minutes in the future. Given the nature of the topic – it’s explicit and disturbing, but Charles Stross is brilliant, leading edge, state of the art and fun to read.
The shifting perspective of the story telling can make the read a bit tricky and I would recommend a second read to make sure you catch everything.