The more things change, the more they remain the same, as we witness in Chris Moriarty's follow up novel to her brilliant debut in Spin State. The new book, Spin Control, makes this point in the Middle East, where Israeli and Palestinians are still at each other's throats in a gridlocked grudge match, amidst which a number of intelligence agencies and other players are scrambling to capture a prize from off world, a genetic virus that might be a weapon of considerable importance. If anyone can understand what it does. Though we get a fair amount of action in with now ex-Major Catherine Li, and her AI consort Cohen, they're not quite at the center of the storm. That would be Arkady, a post-human from the Syndicate, a collection of cloned human lines that have been engineered as advances in humanity, though in what direction it's not always clear.

Book Description: Call Arkady a clone with a conscience. Or call him a traitor. A member of the space-faring Syndicates, Arkady has defected to Israel with a hot commodity: a genetic weapon powerful enough to wipe out humanity. But Israel's not buying it. They're selling it–and Arkady–to the highest bidder.

As the auction heats up, the Artificial Life Emancipation Front sends in Major Catherine Li. Drummed out of the Peacekeepers for executing Syndicate prisoners, Li has now literally hooked up with an AI who has lived many lifetimes and shunted through many bodies. But while they have their own conflicting loyalties to contend with, together they're just one player in a mysterious high-stakes game….

(Source: Spectra)