In the not-too-distant future, automatic Ubers will speed you across cities; cutting edge tech – which is currently just a developmental whisper away – is realised and in use. And then there are em-trackers; people who specialise in joining cultural dots using a strong sense of empathy.

Judah ‘Lion’ Zorn is an em-tracker whose skills are (mostly) powered by some seriously dank weed, and his ability to connect seemingly disparate events and occurrences. It’s this skill that attracts the pay of slippery Sir Richard, billionaire Brit and founder of Arctic, a corporation that prides itself not on creating product but on the long game: cultural change. While under the pay of Sir Richard to investigate the grisly murder of rich hunter (read: endangered animal massacre lover) Robert Walker who ends up mounted along with his trophies. Lion is faced with a seemingly dense soup of disparate clues including: animal abusers getting their comeuppance across the globe; a mysterious silver powder; animal rights groups; the sixth great extinction; rappers who have come back from the dead; and an ancient cult named for the mystic poet Rainer Maria Rilke.

Lion is a likeable enough character to engage the reader of this novel. It is clear that Kotler knows his stuff with ideas of flow deriving from Rastafarian culture. This is Clever with a capital C, possibly too much at times which sometimes overpowers the story/plot. Kotler utilises a large dollop of realism for the contemporary reader and the metatextual references are rather fun (for example, there are many references to Apocalypse Now! and Frank Herbert’s). Why not play ‘classic literature/science fiction bingo’ with some of the mentions! Ultimately, the ecological and humanistic tones to this novel are there to make the reader think as well as enjoy the story.

LAST TANGO IN CYBERSPACE / AUTHOR: STEPHEN KOTLER / PUBLISHER: ST MARTIN’S PRESS / RELEASE DATE: MAY 14TH