To Read, Perchance to Dream: Book Review: The Immortality Virus by Christine Amsden

In the mid-21st century, the human race stopped aging. Those who know why aren't talking, and the few who are brave enough to ask questions tend to disappear. To an elite few, The Change means long life and health, but to the increasing masses, it means starvation, desperation, and violence. Four centuries after The Change, Grace Harper, a blacklisted P.I., sets off on a mission to find the man responsible for it all and solicit his help to undo The Change - if he's still alive. To complicate matters, Grace's employer is suspected of murdering his father, and when the police learn of their connection, they give her a choice - help them find the evidence they need to convict Matthew Stanton, or die. But if they discover Grace's true mission, they won't hesitate to kill her in order to protect their shot at immortality.

Imagine a world where noone died, at least not from aging or related diseases. Populations explode, food and housing is scarce, everything is exorbitantly expensive. You can't walk down the street in the city without being hemmed in by other people, pushed right up against them. Hundreds of thousands of people live on the streets, in parks, scrambling for survival.

This is the world Christine Amsden presents us in The Immortality Virus. Everyone looks like they are 25, except for those who were already older when everyone stopped aging. Enter Grace Harper, private investigator, fired from the police, blacklisted from any government related contracts. She is hired to try to find the man thought to be responsible and try to get his help to reverse the anti-aging effect. Of course, the "Establishment" doesn't want this to happen, so they try to stop her. Then the fun begins.

I really enjoyed this book. It flowed well and kept my attention. It was a well written, thought-out storyline with lots of action to keep everything moving forward. Grace Harper is a strong character with a wonderfully sarcastic wit who prefers working alone to get the job done. Ms. Amsden takes this strength and starts bending it as we see Grace gradually learning to trust others and realizing it's not a weakness to accept help.

It's a dark, bleak world in the The Immortality Virus. I had thought maybe Ms. Amsden should have put some touches of lightness by showing positive aspects of living hundreds of years. But maybe there's really not many to be found. After all, as the band Queen asks, "Who wants to live forever?"

*Disclaimer - I received this free in ebook format from the author, Christine Amsden. I was not required to write a positive review.