REVIEW: The Switch – April McCloud

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A hundred years in the future, in a world where technologically enhanced bodies are valued above organic ones, Complete Life Management (CLM) is selling perfection in the form of the latest and greatest bionic model, the Apogee. As an elite runner and inadvertent spokesperson for the humanism movement, NYPD Detective Naomi Gate has eschewed vanity upgrades. However, if she hopes to survive in New York City’s fierce criminal Underground and find her brother, she can’t show up in her organic cop body. When Jax Raelyn—CLM’s playboy CEO and Naomi’s boyfriend—offers her an unauthorized body transfer, she accepts in order to save the only family she has left.

Plunging into the Underground’s den of illegal body modifications and bionic hit squads, it turns out to be the first of several body transfers. And as the stakes rise, Naomi fears the price for saving her brother may be the thing she values most—her own humanity.

This book takes us one hundred years into the future where people can make improvements to their bodies. Jax Raelyn is the CEO of Complete Life Management offering upgrades i.e. bionic arms, legs, eyes and even a full body switch.

His girlfriend Detective Naomi Gates is totally against the bionic replacements feeling that humans are losing their humanity. Only when there is no other choice will she get a replacement, which happened when her leg was injured, and a replacement was the only way it could be saved. She runs in marathons against other women with bionics and she always wins another reason she has become a voice for staying as human as possible.

While stopping a killer she missed a call from her brother Tyler, a troubled soul who she has raised since the death of their mother. When she didn’t answer because she couldn’t he was convinced that she was finished with him, so he did what he thought was his only way out of a very bad situation. He went for a switch putting his body into one that belonged to someone else, but unfortunately it was a bad mistake.

Jax’s company is working on creating Apogees, 97% bionic. Of course, Naomi is appalled to consider that the Apogees will be more machine than human. She had no idea just what she would face when they became a reality. When her brother’s body is discovered, she realizes that he has switched and is in trouble, so she is determined to find him, not an easy task since she doesn’t know if he is a male or female.

Finishing a marathon, she comes face to face with Tyler, but he also comes face to face with a bounty hunter, Dane Thayer. Tyler gets away and she realizes that the only way to locate him is if she switches bodies and goes undercover to the Underground. Her boss refuses to allow it so she goes to Jax who does it and takes Dane along to lead her in the right direction. Dane has had bionic replacements on a major part of his body.

As they search for Tyler, they encounter Monks an encounter that will lead to trouble. Dane and Naomi are on the run, and she is seriously injured leading to her having to get another switch. This time she is a short man, but that was all that was available. Now finding Tyler is becoming more difficult since they are constantly running into people wanting to kill them.

There is so much going on and the author did an amazing job of keeping me glued to my chair. Tyler is in a woman’s body which works great for him since he has always been trans and felt he was in the wrong body. How great would it be if trans can just be able to switch but that isn’t in the cards.

Lies, betrayals, suspense and a must read for anyone with an interest in computers, well it is in my opinion a must read for anyone. If I had to use one word to describe this book it would be WOW.