Moon Cops on the Moon

By: C. T. Phipps

Narrated by: Alex Freeman

Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

"Welcome to the moon!"

Neal Gordon screwed up his assignment on Mars and they reassigned him to Antarctica. Now he's being reassigned some place even worse: Luna City. A crime ridden hellhole with a super-rich ruling class, he almost immediately finds himself targeted by bounty hunters and cyborg terrorists. Thankfully, Neal has an unusual set of partners in robot dog, Barksley, and the snarky but badass Lucy Westenra. Yes, make all the vampire jokes you want.

It's tough being a corporate cop on humanity's foremost colony and before this adventure is over, he's going to have to deal with deranged influencers, mysterious female secret agents, and a 1970s themed flying car called the Purple Rain. Can he survive to get reassigned? Who knows.

MOON COPS ON THE MOON is set in the Futurepunk setting of Agent G, the Cyber Dragons Trilogy, and Space Academy novels but functions as a standalone series. It is a humorous action-filled romp that fans of The Expanse, Robocop, Demolition Man, and Blade Runner will enjoy.

©2023 Charles Phipps (P)2023 David N. Wilson

I had fun with this Cyberpunk blend.

As usual with C.T. Phipps's books, I had fun. Always a pleasure to read/listen to his books. This one, I listened to the audio book.

First, the narrator. I have to say, I'm going to date myself. But have you ever listened to the song "Wet Dream" by Kip? The tone to the voice, I found the narrator reminded me of it. lol. The old time detective feel with hidden innuendoes in the words. So cool.

The story is a detective/mystery style as Neal learns the ropes of being on the moon, a not so pleasant place to be with crime. Neal has a smart partner, Lucy, who has her own past with her mom's fame. Great detectives in a high crime place.

Then there's Barksley. lol. A talking dog. I love it and his history as well.

Everyone's got a "history" that's a hoot and fun to learn and see how it impacts them and the story here.

The story has a little feel of influence from the movie Cherry 2000. Also, with the punk feel from 1920-ish detective feel. I love this blend! I've not read much with this blend and I want more!

I'm afraid to give too much on the plot as I don't want to give it away. I want you to learn with Neal as you go through the book and world for the first time.

There is fun and action and guns along with high speed chase. All great things to add to the cyber punk feel.

Perfect blend of story, humor, and sci-fi

Another great entry from this author thoroughly enjoyed this. Look forward to the continuation of the series.

There is a moon cop, and they are on the moon!

CT Phipps is a student of pop culture, and it shows. He seamlessly Frankensteins genres, tropes, stereotypes, and social awareness in a completely unique way.

This book is a fun, funny action-adventure, sci-fi romp with political intrigue, espionage, romance mystery crime thriller drama...and also has a talking dog!

If you like humorous space-based science fiction, this could be the book for you. Loveable characters, and great world-building. The pace is right, and the length is perfect.

Fun ride

It's a different story telling then the authors other books. I enjoyed the story, but had to get use to the narrator voice. But I don't think I could listen to a sequel if they changed him.

A Detective Noir Story...On the Moon

Neal Gordon is a sarcastic hard boiled detective. As a corporate cop, he is a little dirty, irreverent, and prone to an ancient pop-culture reference or quick double entendre.

Right off the bat, I didn't like him. Like Dirty Harry or Philip Marlowe, (with a little Nick Charles thrown in), you really can't see yourself being friends with them. They just live in a perpetual world of shady dealings and taking down even worse guys.
Add in a beautiful partner with a strange backstory, (anarchist punk band keyboardist, TV vampire slayer, and energy-whip wielding corporate cop), and an adorable AI robo-corgi, and you have the start of a great "Walked into a Bar" joke or a very funny partnership that takes the edge off of taking down corrupt slavers and murderers.

The book is fast paced with a good amount of world-building that is made enjoyable via the constant humorous quips and lead-ins to the big battle. With a very satisfying conclusion, I am left to wonder, (without giving too much away), if I was supposed to empathize with the bad guy? Because I did. By the end of the book, I couldn't find fault with the decisions the big bad made, even though it hurt others.

At the end of the day, this is a modern take on an old fashioned detective mystery, And I absolutely loved it!

As for narration, Alex Freeman did a wonderful job. A very steady voice all the way though with just the right amount of voice shift to differentiate characters.
All in all 10 out of 10 on this one. Just the right amount of humor with a great mystery to solve. Highly Recommended!

Great Story

Classic Phipps satire without sacrificing the storyline. Like, I loved Cindy's Seven, but felt it was a little too focused on the snark and lost sight of the story a bit. But not here! It was a very engaging read that kept you involved from beginning to end. Great job here, can't wait for the next.

The makings of a great new series

A good mix of camp, ,cyber punk, humor and nostalgia. The twist at the end, did catch me a bit by surprise, and the universe he has created here has me eagerly looking forward to listening to the next book.

So Enjoyably Funny

Moon Cops on the Moon is, I believe, the 42nd review of a Phipps book. That’s… insane to me. Not only to have written that many books (which by itself is amazing), but to have read so many books by the same author. That being said, when I saw this one was coming soon – I got really excited. I always get excited when I see books from him, but this one really caught my attention. It’s one of the rare books that doesn’t seem to be set in the same multiverse as his others. But the world felt just as fleshed out and wonderfully screwed up.

Moon Cops on the Moon was a story about a good cop coming to a place that seems to either eat up cops or reveal how corrupt they are. The story opens with him losing all of his money and being jumped for a bounty he had no idea existed. We quickly meet his partner(s) and have one of the funniest scenes in a Phipps book. When Lucy is reading him the data she has on her tablet and reveals the different colors for different things (how “good” of a cop he is, how many cases he solved, and some other very personal information I won’t spoil) — I was cracking up. Both Neal’s reactions and how flustered he gets were just comedy gold.

Speaking of comedy gold mixed with the best idea in a book ever. One of Neal’s partners is a talking sentient robotic Corgi. Seriously, he’s a bit hidden on the front of the cover but once you see him he steals the entire story. Literally one of the funniest, most ironic (you have to read to understand the irony), and just perfect sidekicks for this style of story. I was thrilled to see both the pop culture references and the comedy in this story. Phipps can pull off stories without them (see my review of the recently released Wraith King for an example of that), but when he can include them AND be snarky like Neal’s character was… it’s perfection.

Overall, Moon Cops on the Moon was one of those stories that as soon as I finished it I was wondering who I should share it with. It just ticked every box I had for the type of story I love. And it felt like he could very easily do more with both the world and the characters. I’m not kidding when I say that I would read an entire story on Barksley. He won my heart and I want to know more about him (even if he’s AI). He was almost pure comic relief and it was perfect.

Phipps does it again

I received a free copy to give my honest opinion, will try to avoid spoilers. I've been a long time fan of Mr. Phipps work, from "The Supervillainy Saga" to "Space Academy". And one of the common thing that keeps bringing me back to his books is his style, His main characters are often sarcastic, world-weary, anti-heroes doing their best to survive their bad situations. However he always manages to avoid the typical clichés and makes each character work for each story. And Moon Cops is just as enjoyably fun as the rest of his works. Give this book a shot, I promise you'll have a fun time.

Meh

Slow paced and cliched with jokes that miss the mark. The narrator can’t deliver a punch line, and uses the same vocal tone for everything