Tears of a Clone

Easytown Novels, Book 2

By: Brian Parker

Narrated by: Daniel Penz

Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

Torture tourism is an illegal sport in Easytown - unless the victim is a clone, then nobody cares. They're little more than property in the eyes of the government.

When Detective Zach Forrest discovers the mutilated bodies of three clones in a garbage compactor, he's dismayed that no one wants anything to do with the investigation. He takes matters into his own hands and visits Tommy Voodoo, aka The King of Easytown, to get information.

Forrest is shocked to learn of the multi-million dollar industry of torture tourism going on right under everyone's nose. He embarks on an unauthorized investigation and discovers that the truth behind the clone murders is more terrifying than he'd imagined.

©2016 Brian Parker (P)2018 Brian Parker

Fast-paced, suspenseful, and funny!!

I love this series, it reminds me of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series but with a really fun futuristic twist. It's the perfect sequel to the first novel.
So the book... It's excellent! I love that the vehicles in this series are all self driven and that as a society the people rely so much on AI that they don't do well without it. My very favorite part is when Forrest has to drive manually. I laughed like an idiot the entire time.
I thoroughly enjoy how much of an asshole Detective Forrest is. His character's ethical and emotional dilemmas are really interesting to listen to, and there's just the right amount of romance. I am really enjoying listening to Forrest's evolution as a character and can't wait to move on to the next book!
The narration for this series(and this book) is done incredibly well, Penz's voice fits Forrest's personality like a glove and his accents and inflection are spot on.


"This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review."

Another excellent adventure in Easytown

*This book was given to me by the author at my request, and I provided this voluntary review.*

4.5 / 5

I thoroughly enjoyed book 1 of Parker's series, and I was able to get the second book in the series! Once again, Parker has done an excellent job mixing crime and sci-fi together into an awesome story that is a perfect continuation of book 1 to book 2. While this one wasnt technically as exciting as the first story, it is still an excellent story in my opinion. He even sets up the events leading to book 3, which I will definitely be reading. The narration is once again top-notch. Highly recommend.

Would make a great Netflix Series

I thoroughly enjoyed the first book in the series, so I had high expectations for the second. Unfortunately, the first half of the book just missed its mark with me. I persevered, and the story started to hit its stride by the midway point. After that, it was the roller-coaster grim-noir/cyberpunk novel I was looking for. It probably deserves a 4 or 4.5 in stead of a 5 for its duller opening, but I enjoyed it enough to over look the rough patches.

A Thought-Provoking Story

This book takes place in the near-future.
It involves the idea of technology, specifically cloning, and its place in our society. It also provoked in me issues surrounding humanity, morality, and compassion.
I requested this book from the author and agreed that I would review it.
The narration was solid. It, in no way detracted from the story.
I had a hard time with the premise that clones of people were considered property and had no rights. I just don't, personally, see how you could ignore the fact that DBA is DNA and if replicated, a clone wouldn't have feeling, emotions, aspirations, etc. If you can get by this, the story with its twists and turns is decent.

Cyberpunk noir

Clones are not considered human beings, so clone torture tourism is not a prosecuted practice, but Detective Zach Forrester is convinced of the opposite, so he will get involved in an investigation about the recent surge of clone tortures that are happening in Easy Town.

I find the subjects in the Easy Town novels very intriguing and food for thought regarding morals. From the start, I just can’t conceive why clones are not considered human beings, as Zack is, and I have to say that I found this premise a bit hard to swallow. Passed that, the story is fascinating, with many twists and turns, and very interesting points of view.

We are the withness of an evolution in Zack and Teagan ‘s relationship, which I found kind of cute and cringy in equal measure. There is just something that I can’t take from misogynistic characters like Zach, but I think it is part of the noir atmosphere that surrounds the series.

Daniel Penz’s narration was again very good, providing each character with a different style and even using sound effects, although a little bit less often than in book one. I still perceived the volume of the parts with special effects a bit lower than the rest, like in book one, but as it didn’t happen so often it was less noticeable. Penz did great at transmitting the characters’ emotions, especially Zack’s and his solitary demeanor.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Futuristic New Orleans

I absolutely loved the first book in this series, "The Immorality Clause" and feel in love with the MC, Detective Zach Forrest. This book is a continuation of the first and definitely carried on the story in a great way!

The book is set in a futuristic New Orleans, where drones, androids (droids), AI, self-driving cars and other technology is commonplace. But, now it seems that there are human clones being murdered in what is called Torture Tourism. However, it isn't really murder because the clones aren't people. Or, are they?

Zach has a different viewpoint of the rights of clones and sets out to try to find out what is really happening in Easytown (the worst part of New Orleans). There is plenty of action, twists and turns and a little romance mixed in with this awesome story. I was reminded several times of the parallels between the treatment of the clones in this book and the history of slavery in America.

I would definitely recommend this book and this series to readers that enjoy "Blade Runner" type stories but I think that people who just love a good detective story would enjoy it too.

Mr. Parker has a wonderful way with words and the story moves at a fast pace. His descriptions of the new technologies and the environments that Detective Forrest encounters really makes the reader/listener feel like they are living in the scene or watching a movie.

And, the narrator, Daniel Penz? I can't use enough superlatives to describe his absolutely perfect performance! He does a wonderful job and doesn't try to alter his voice so much with each character that it detracts from the book. His narration makes a great book even better.

I can't wait to see what Mr. Parker has in store for our intrepid Detective in the next installment of this series (but the ending does hint at Cyborgs!). I was given the chance to listen to this book by the author and chose to review it.

The best audiobook series ever!!!!!

The story is, of course, fabulous, but the narration is the best I've ever listened to. Don't take my word for it, try out a same and you'll be hooked.

Excellent book

I listened to the audio book series. I had read book one a month ago and was very excited to "read" the next two books in the series. Little did I know, I would fall deep in to Zach Forrest's plots and finish books two and three in two days.

Book one discusses a murder plot involving AI droids. In book two there's a mysterious (human) clone problem plaguing the city of Easytown. Zach Forrest must investigate what's happening to the clones while upper management directly tells him not to do so. There's a lot more to these clones than meets the eye and Zach also has to solve this case while dealing with "The Paladin." a street vigilante who decides drug dealers would be better off dead.

The narration is excellent with a nice mix of effects. Daniel Penz does an excellent job of bringing the gruff detective to life. His narration range is wide and really brings the characters to life.

I did get a review code for book 3 and the author ever so kindle offered me a code for book 2 since I had told him I loved book 1 so much.

More adventures in a cyberpunk New Orleans

I was a big fan of the Immorality Clause by Brian Parker last year. It was basically a variant on Blade Runner with the premise of a Louisiana Detective in the future doing his best to find out who was responsible for the deaths at a gynoid sex club. I was, thus, extremely interested in the follow-up book as far too many books are interested in the trappings of cyberpunk versus the more nuanced ways of examining how technology can be used to screw up people's lives. 'Technology is neutral in cyberpunk but people suck so it'll always be misused' being one way to explain it.

So, what did I get? Well, I was thrown as the book opens with our protagonist hunting Batman. Well, actually, a guy who wears masked black body armor and hunts criminals called the Paladin. That, however, actually paid off in the end. Still, it's interesting the book shifts some elements from the first book that I was troubled by. Aside from these elements, though, I find Tears of a Clone to be an extremely enjoyable science fiction novel that has a more polished feel in several respects. I loved the original book and enjoyed this one a great deal, making me eager to see a third one in the series.

The premise is Detective Zach Forrest is currently hunting the Paladin for the vigilante's murder of several criminals. Zach's a hardline "criminals deserve no mercy" sort of cop himself, so his distaste for the Paladin rings a bit hollow. Indeed, he's actually under investigation for charges of police brutality at the start of the story. However, all of this becomes a side story with the discovery of mutilated clones in the city. Apparently, someone has created "torture tourism" where individuals can mutilate and murder clones for pay. This disgusts Detective Forrest because he has met clones and know them to as human as anyone else.

This element is the only part of the story which confuses me, along with Zach's belief Easytown is a kind of Fallujah of America given it's a major tourist destination in the city as well as popular Red Light District. Why are clones needed when they have androids and gynoids perfectly capable of mimicking human responses that Zach slept with one without being able to tell the difference? Likewise, how did it get to the point people became unable to tell the difference between clones and robots that the former have no legal rights? I get the metaphor Zach is trying to use but wonder why society would have both clones and humanoid robots versus one or the other. No adequate answer was given and it seems like there'd be a competition between them at the least.

Despite this, I really enjoyed the dark and gritty story which unfolded. Zach is like a dog on a bone, constantly trying to find ways ot getting justice for the clone victims who have no legal protections. The metaphor for various minorities and setting in the Deep South makes an appropriate homage even if the story is never heavy-handed. The reader can draw the parallels between the treatment of Blacks and clones but there's never a need by the author to point them out.

While the best part of the book is the cutting away at the murder-porn ring, I also enjoyed the romance in the book as well. I'm not a shipper usually but Zachery's troubles reminded me of Harry Dresden's and that's always a good thing. I hope he doesn't get with Teagan, his much-younger admirer as he has chemistry with a lot of more interesting women. Hell, even his Siri stand-in, Andi, has better chemistry with him. Whatever the case, this is an excellent cyberpunk noir novel and I can't wait for the next one.

9/10

Second time listening to it, still amazing

Even better the second time around. Definitely going to reread book 3 and eagerly await book 4