Michelle Herbert reviews Depth by Lev AC Rosen…
Depth is a novel set in the future, the ice caps have melted and a most the world we know is now under water. Depth focuses on New York, a perfect setting for this novel with its many skyscrapers and tall buildings that were reinforced in the hopes that they would be able to withstand the onslaught as the waters rose. As all buildings are inhabitable below the 22nd Floor and New York has become a city linked by bridges and boats.
New York is atmospheric with fog drifting amongst the buildings, at certain times of day when the sun no longer shines. New York also suffers from storms that really howl and make it dangerous to be outside. The main character in Depth is Simone, a Private Investigator who navigates this wonderfully realised world. Simone specialises in cheating husbands and her current case following Henry St. Michel seems to be fairly straightforward because of this Simone is happy to take on an extra case: searching for a building that is livable below the waves. What had started as a routine case soon becomes much more complicated when St. Michel turns up dead.
Simone, like most fictional P.I.s, has few friends and finds trust a commodity with too high a price attached. Simone thinks that she is better off alone, that way she can never be betrayed, but also never believes that anyone has honest intentions. Simone’s lack of trust causes her a few problems later in the book. Simone is sassy, smart and flirtatious with in most cases good survival instincts. Simone is so focuses on solving her case that she doesn’t see that she is being framed to take the fall. Throughout the book she gets some great lines and although there are hints to old school detective novels in the Raymond Chandler vibe, the reversal of gender roles is refreshing.
The cast of characters surrounding Simone make this book more colourful. There is Caroline, the Deputy Mayor of New York and the closest person that Simone would call a friend. Both Simone and Caroline are intelligent strong women who thrive against adversity. There is also Peter a childhood friend who is also her ex-boyfriend. Peter is a cop which complicates their friendship especially when he becomes the man caught between Simone and his boss.
Other parts of the America have survived the floods. New York is almost cut off from the mainland with their draconian laws like woman dress code, making divorce illegal and their views of homosexuality and how to fix it. New York is almost autonomous in the fact that they are able to ignore and bend these federal laws. New York has become a haven to those who want to have freedom as well as people looking to make money quickly.
Depth is a mix between a futuristic dystopia; where the technology has been adapted to work in an almost constantly wet environment, as well as an old school detective novel. It is shown that gadgets can only get you so far, you still need to physically stake out a person if you are on a case.
There is so much to love about this novel, the characters and world are compelling and you really do end up caring about what happens to Simone and whether she will be able to resolve some of the mistakes she makes within the book. By the end of Depth you know enough about her back story to want to know what adventures will befall Simone next, although I do believe that Depth is probably a standalone story. What I do want to read more of are books with characters like Simone and Caroline; where women are friends and discuss more than just men and can be competitive without being bitchy. Lev AC Rosen is definitely an author to look out for.
Michelle Herbert
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Originally published June 28, 2015. Updated April 14, 2018.
