“A Feast for Flies”

Leigh Harlen

This was chaotic and fun to read; it did a pretty good job of capturing the feeling of being in over your head, one normal person trying not to be squished by the movements of the movers and shakers of the world. A mind-reader, forced to work for the police, hating her job but legally not allowed to leave it. Bea, the support dog, was a fun concept—there’s a passing reference to people with less sci-fi reasons for needing a support animal getting by with robots, but here, the disability is “can constantly hear the thoughts and feelings of people around her,” and being in contact with the dog (or through the conductive leash) dampens all of that.

The mind reading was done fairly well, I thought, and just different enough in the details that it felt interesting but still easy to follow. A fun, quick read; check it out.1