Review of Sliverhead by Lee Berkman

Kaya’s trying to get clean off Sliver, a futuristic drug.

Life in New Canonside is rough. It is a sketchy city without prospects, roughly dystopian, and well-populated with crooks and gangstas. The Fall rendered the world desperate a hundred years ago. It’s all anyone can do to survive. This set up may seem familiar because we see aspects of it when we look out the window, when we flip on the television. This is the world through a skewed lens. A future which may come to pass.
Society is run by a vast drug cartel. They are peddling the vicious drug Sliver, which I would equate to Fentanyl. To save her struggling family and perishing father, she must learn the ins and out of the cartel. The only problem is her addiction to the stuff. So it is a war on two fronts for her.

While everyone else is scrounging for their next fix, she is taking action. With nowhere to go but deeper into the mix, must play both sides as her story weaves with Cassian, a man with a shady background and questionable motives.

At times reminding me of crime dramas, this is a well-written, well-paced, seedy novel with plenty of action to entertain, and enough depth to intrigue a careful reader. The dialogue does double duty, revealing character while explicating plot. The author avoids expo dumps and instead laces the scenes with emotional resonance and world-building in equal measure. Of course politicians and businessmen contribute to the state of the world, and we get snippets of news segments to add to the sinister atmosphere. Descriptions are memorable whenever characters are introduced, and their choices drive the plot.

The interiority also offers further insight into the emotions of our protagonists. In short, there is never a dull moment. The social commentary will be apt for quite some time. I don’t pretend we will magically win the war on drugs, or solve the energy crisis within the next ten years, so it is sometimes tough to stomach such bleak visions of our very probable – (almost guaranteed) -future.
The cartel uses every means to wrest control from the little people, shattering lives without a thought. The reader must witness how drugs poison society, one life at a time.

Sliverhead is a densely populated novel discussing the horrors of intoxication, and laying bare the inherited evils of our human nature. It is about survival. The inner war where humans must master themselves to overcome the downward spiral that has our civilization in its grip.

One thing the author could’ve done different was he started too many sections with a character waking up. A few sections were a tad long, however the pace remained quite consistent.

Nonetheless, it is a gritty and cinematic work. This futuristic thriller will stick with you.