Carlos Dayne is on the bottom rung of society on the planet Balash. Amid the affluence, he’s homeless and desperate. One night, when hunting in the rubbish bins for food, he finds a man’s body.
It’s been stabbed and dumped among society’s detritus, another victim of the side of Balash that nobody talks about.
When Carlos sees what’s in the dead man’s pocket, he can tell that it’s his chance of a new start.

All he needs to do is pretend to be Dominik Lind for a few days, on Jallico, a planet that’s light-years away, where nobody knows either of them. If he can do that, everything of Dominik’s will be his.
Things are never that easy. The deeper Carlos gets into his new life, the harder it becomes to see a way out.
As his deception progresses, he discovers that he and Dominik are connected. And there’s something else.
Dominik Lind had more enemies than the one who killed him. Other people wished him harm.

They’re still looking.
And they’re closing in. 

I received a free copy of this book courtesy of the author in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve been lucky to read many of Richard Dee’s works. Whether it’s cosy crime, steampunk, fantasy, or sci-fi, I’ve yet to read something I’ve not enjoyed. And Ripples is no different. It follows a down on his luck homeless man, Carlos Dayne, as his life changes in ways he could never have imagined.

When Carlos Dayne finds the body of a well-dressed man that looked uncannily like himself, he sees an opportunity to lift himself out of the poverty he now lived in. He assumes the identity of a dead man, launching himself into a new life. With new-found wealth, Carlos is sure his life will be so much better. Fate has a different idea for him, with unforeseen bumps in the road that could have disastrous consequences as he fights to take on the life of another.

I fell in love with this story from the very beginning. The potential for trouble was evident, and while it is a sci-fi story, it’s not heavy or in your face. A fantastically balanced story filled with threat, corporate intrigue and a light sprinkling of sci-fi for good measure.

My rating: