Let me preface my further remarks by saying that before reading Burn my knowledge of the cyberpunk genre was limited to one or two films and perhaps some commentary on its principal purveyors and their output in various media. Going by this, Burn does appear to meet all the criteria of "cyberpunk" though the author suggests it might best be termed "technoir." Whether attributable to the author or the limitations of whatever genre one may wish to associate it with, I was disappointed not to find any particularly novel or thought-provoking ideas in terms of future science or cybernetics -- at least nothing beyond a reasonable extrapolation of current technology. As for the dark decaying settings of cyberpunk, these existed as far back as Van Tassel Sutphen's The Doomsman (1906), Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1926), or Fredric Brown's What Mad Universe (1946).

What I more strenuously object to is the characterization of Burn, in its sub-title, as "science-fiction noir," or alternatively as "technoir." Burn, for all its grimy city and carbonized victims is, in my opinion, about as noir as the paper it's printed on... setting isn't everything. Now if the likes of Blade Runner define what noir is these days, then fine, Burn is noir as the ace of spades. However, if noir is, as I perceive it, suspense mixed with the visceral but hopeless agony of despair and pointless wrestling against a fated destiny best exemplified in the works of writers like Cornell Woolrich and Jim Thompson, then Burn might better be termed blanc. Cage, the detective, while fallen from the grace of the police force, has no anxieties, no major character flaw, no obsession, no devil riding his back until every new day is fresh torture (e.g., Detective Creighan in the British series Touching Evil) -- and the same applies to the remaining characters. In an exchange with me, Mr. Lyons proposes that the darkness in the characters' lives is that they are all failures: "Cage as a hero; Jonny as a human; and Kali and the [NewSchool] Grrls as a post-Utopian society." However, while I won't deny this, the characters don't seem to be particularly broken up about their failure.

If you are a fan of technoir or cyberpunk, then by all means pick up a copy of Burn, available in hardcover, trade paperback and a number of electronic formats. Otherwise, expect a light entertaining read with well-developed characters, good pacing and a tight plot, but little in the way of edge or suspense. Either way, Jonathan Lyons seems to be an author with some potential, but who perhaps needs to let his characters suffer a bit more before he returns to the genre.