I finished reading Alibi by Sharon Shinn. I liked it.
It’s got the tagline “Romance. Teleportation. Murder.”
I was intrigued, so I picked it up.
Set in the future where teleportation is ubiquitous, how does one actually maintain an alibi?
Alibi tells the story linearly. With the one exception of the opening page being set at the accusation, the story is told as the characters have lived it.
The murder doesn’t happen until the last few chapters of the book, but with careful reading, it would be possible to piece together whodunit once it takes place. The clues are all laid out as the protagonist experienced them, but it’s not as though each one is highlighted significantly. The occasional passing reference is all it takes.
I was hoping the teleportation was going to factor into the mystery a bit more but the author spent the effort to make it feel as commonplace as possible. We’re exposed to the lived experience of the teleportation system existing, from transport passes to safety features and world building. There was a certain bit of romance to the convenience of being instantly anywhere and the enterprises that built up from the network.
Over the four and a half months of the story, we see the characters build relationships to each other. As the story rolls along, some of the less believable parts from the initial encounters make sense.
I have two complaints.
The murder victim is built up as possibly too heinous and irredeemable. A cartoon of villainy. It felt too over the top for me. They didn’t need to go nearly as far to make it plausible for all the suspects to have a motive. Conversely, the son character that was beloved by all, was possibly a bit much on the sweetness side.
That said, seeing the state of the world, I can only believe that both of these people exist somewhere.
The latter is that it was cringey for the speculative future slang words to be developed. Might be my 90s disaffected-youth, too-cool-for-school type picture of teens that I grew up with, but I winced nearly every time one was introduced.
It was a fun read, but certainly not a must read. I liked it.