I was very curious about COUNTERWEIGHT—it had all the hype going for it. A mysterious author, whose actual identity is remains unknown. Compared by WIRED to classic science fiction greats like Philip K. Dick and breakout modern writers like Hwang Dong-hyuk. A scrutinizing portrayal of corporate powers consuming the world, wrapped in a low-budget noir aesthetic.

When I stopped reading the novel, about a quarter of the way in, I wondered if I was being too hard on it—unfairly comparing it to DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP? So I had to ask myself what was missing—what would I need from this book to compel me not to DNF it? I think it's ultimately the lack of the human element. Whether it actually ended up reading like a psychological thriller or a Kafkaesque descent into corporate hell, the main character didn't compel me. He had questions, yes. A need to find out how a perfectly ordinary man in this corporation knew about his extremely classified secrets. And yet, that curiosity didn't feel real. I found myself craving the unlikeable, singleminded thinking of Deckard. Or the even more unlikeable Winston. I don't have to like a scifi noir protagonist—I usually don't—but I also crave the way classic scifi authors know how to poke them with a sharp stick even the most Nihilistic of dystopian circumstances.

Unfortunately, while the narrator of COUNTERWEIGHT has a sense of dry, dark humor, "I don't know how other people feel, but in my book, not having to kill an actual person when someone needs to die is a pretty big plus." it isn't enough to carry the plot forward. When I had the patience to read a 900-page epic before this book, but then could barely make it past 50 pages in COUNTERWEIGHT, I found it telling.