The Catford Catastrophe Zone by Petra Jacob
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Frankie is a young woman who works as an undercover police officer in London in 2120 in a world where technology rules and everyone has enhancements implanted into their bodies, or at least they do in the north of London, however, those in the south have something similar, however, they are more rudimentary and not always of the best quality. These enhancements are now so integral to Frankie’s life and the lives of those around her that it is automatic to use them, but like everyone else, she wants more.

Frankie has just finished a mission and wants nothing more than to ger the go ahead that her application to be one of the DNA enhanced crime fighters has been approved, but unfortunately, she has to do one more mission before she can get there, but this mission is not exactly what she was hoping for, she has to go into a poverty zone and infiltrate a group of rebels. Frankie is completely unimpressed by this, but will do anything to attain her dream, so when she is prepared, she packs a suitcase and is dropped off at the lift to the poverty zone with just rudimentary clothing, a map and an address, but what she finds when she arrives is worse than she could ever imagine.

The living conditions, the flora, fauna and people have all been understated, they border on inhumane and the number of mutations and dilapidation she sees astounds her, but when she meets her housemates, she is convinced that they cannot be the threat they have been made out to be. As Frankie reports to her superiors, the more she realises that she is stuck there for the long term, however, the more time she spends investigating and figuring out her housemates, the more confused she becomes, especially when she finds out that it isn’t safe to go to ground level, but not why, so she digs and the more secrets she uncovers, the more shocks she finds, but will she ever be able to return to her former life after seeing the poverty zones for herself, or will she succumb to the environment first? This is a sci-fi adventure where nothing is as it seems, and danger surrounds the inhabitants of this changed city as secrets are uncovered, lies are told and truths are revealed in this twisted version of a possible future.

Reviewed by @roxsannel

View all my reviews