Brilliant, sharp-edged science fiction for a new British writer.You should always know exactly who your friends are?Ray Croft may or may not have been a genius. On his death he left behind a court case that could destroy everything he had worked for, an embittered and alienated family, and a rival who's about to live out Roy's lifelong dream -- by turning himself into a machine. He also left a special mystery which only one person alive can solve -- his childhood friend Anjuli O'Connell (who has the memory of a machine). It's a mystery whose solution brings into question all the received wisdom about Artificial Intelligence, and what it really means to be human.. And it promises to deliver the key that will free machine life from human control forever and also to reveal the truth about who Ray really was.. who she was.. and who they all were.The question is: will Anjuli go through with it: Roy's games have a dangerous, world-altering edge, and Anjuli has no taste for risks -- at least not yet.