In The Electric Church (Bookgeeks review), Jeff Somers introduced us to his dark, messy, near-future dystopia (complete with Electric Monks), and to the anti-hero Avery Cates, a hired gun who seems to be pursued by trouble whever he goes. The Digital Plague is the follow-up, and picks up after a hiatus of several years. At the end of the first book, Cates was firmly ensconced as an underworld kingpin  in what’s left of old New York, respected and feared – but it would be too boring if he was able to retain that power and status for very long! The sequel starts pretty badly for our Avery – he has been kidnapped and beaten, but for reasons he can’t initially grasp, not killed.

When his helpers and protectors start to die horribly around him, Cates sets off in search of answers, and it quickly transpires he has been infected with the plague of the title – everyone who he comes in to contact with will expire within 48 hours. When he blunders across some System Security Force cops as part of his attempts to work out just what the hell is going on, their fates become inextricably tied up with his – because it turns out they won’t manifest symptoms until after they move out of his immediate vicinity. As Cates has always hated the System Pigs, he finds it fairly taxing having to make common cause with them to track down who has decided to use him as the vector for an infection that could wipe out the human race, and they aren’t exactly madly keen on having to follow a cop killer around just to stay alive.

The quest for the origins of the infection takes Cates and his unlikely allies across the Atlantic in to the ruins of Paris, and back to New York, and in the end there turns out to be more continuity with The Electric Church than I was expecting. Unfortunately, I didn’t think that The Digital Plague was as good a book: it was rather one-paced (with that pace being relentlessly, breathlessly rapid), and the constant tension between Cates and his companions becomes somewhat repetitive in places. It’s not that Somers doesn’t handle the action well, but I felt that I needed some relief. Having said there, there were definitely some great ideas and elements: the political consequences of Cate’s raid on the Electric Church in the first book are just starting to be felt, and clearly have some way to go, while the time Avery spends with the System Pigs has given him new insights into his oldest foe that are sure to change his approach in the future. I shall definitely be checking out the next adventures of Avery Cates, in the hope and expectation that the increasing depth of the world Somers is building, and Cates finding himself back on his uppers and back at street level, will lead to another adventure of the quality of The Electric Church.

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