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Nyx LaisTree and his brother Staun are police officers in the rough port city of Carbuncle, on the planet Tiamat. Frustrated by their inability to enforce smuggling laws because of corrupt authorities, a bunch of cops organize vigilante warehouse raids on shady operations. But one night a raid goes terribly wrong.

When Tree wakes in hospital he discovers that he is the only survivor -- his brother and the other off duty cops are dead. Worse, he is embroiled in a lethal intrigue involving a mysterious group called the Survey, the Snow Queen herself, and perhaps even senior officers in the police force. All of them want to know what happened at the warehouse and they think Tree is lying when he says he can't remember.

Joan D. Vinge does a good job with her characters in this book, especially Tree, who staggers through the novel half stunned with grief for his brother, Staun. His raw anguish and the bleak situation in which Tree finds himself gives the book a grim edge which is only partially leavened by a pleasant (if improbable) romance between Tree and a high-priced courtesan who wears a "full body sensenet" that allows her to change appearance at will.

Tree also finds himself forging an uncomfortable alliance with Sergeant Gundahlinu, a high caste officer with an inflexible dedication to rules. As is inevitable in the mismatched cop partner formula, their differences are ultimately less important than their commitment to the finding the truth.

Tangled Up in Blue is set in the same universe as Vinge's Hugo-award winning novel The Snow Queen (1980), and the plot is complex, especially those elements involving the Survey (think of a cross between the CIA and rogue freemasons). Approaching Tangled Up in Blue without having read the other books, I found that there were some background details that didn't make much sense to me, such as how the low-tech ruler of a backwater planet could possibly control access to a genuine source of immortality.

Still, the novel stands on its own. My partner, Clint, found Tree's grief tiresomely unremitting, but I found it credible and effective as a focus and motivation for a protagonist. This is a solid book, with eye-pleasing cover art by Michael Whelan.

Donna McMahon discovered science fiction in high school and fandom in 1977, and never recovered. Dance of Knives, her first novel, was published by Tor in May, 2001, and her book reviews won an Aurora Award the same month. She likes to review books first as a reader (Was this a Good Read? Did I get my money's worth?) and second as a writer (What makes this book succeed/fail as a genre novel?). You can visit her website at http://www.donna-mcmahon.com/.