Lambda David Musgrave 9781787704657

A SUNDAY TIMES BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022

Outwardly alien arrivals from a distant sea, the lambdas are genetically human. They slip quietly into low-to middle-income jobs and appear to want nothing more than to be left alone. For Cara Gray, they are first a haunting presence in her otherwise ordinary childhood, then the inscrutable target of her police surveillance work.

When a bomb goes off at a school, a nebulous group of lambda extremists claims responsibility for the attack-but how could a vulnerable community of tiny aquatic humans, barely visible in society and seemingly indifferent to their own exploitation, be capable of something so horrific?

In a world of sentient objects, all-powerful quantum AI, and neuroses-ridden organic robots, Cara must decide whether to accept her place in a pattern of technology, violence and deceit, or take action of her own.

"Literary SF at its best."

"A neat idea... a scathing critique of the attitude towards migrants in Brexit Britain."

"Ceaselessly inventive yet grounded in a world we recognise - an eloquent, insightful and funny demonstration the future is now. And always will be."

"A science fiction novel not quite like any other I've read."

"Part cyber-thriller, part sci-fi parable, part glorious social satire."

"Lambda harks back to the utopian preoccupations of early pioneers of the genre like Orwell or Zamiatin, leavening its tale with wry humour and quiet social commentary and satire that scores and hits the target with systematic ferocity... Most definitely a novel of ideas, where the plot insidiously burrows into the reader's mind to unsettling effect. A fascinating curiosity and well worth the detour."