Read @ Joe’s

Title: Terminal Veracity (2026) Author: Greg Hickey Book jacket: A jaded PI in a climate-ravaged future. A client out for revenge. When an assignment leads to murder, can he catch a vicious killer before they strike again? Joe says: Greg Hickey’s Terminal Veracity is an entertaining sci-fi noir, political thriller that feels uncomfortably close to home. The mystery may take the straight road, but Hickey’s imagined future is anything but ordinary, especially when a cheesesteak costs $57.

Marcus Carver, PI, is back, and this time he’s getting tangled up in a particularly unfriendly patch of Texas, where abortion is illegal, political agendas run deep, and some people would rather kill than see the status quo disturbed. Terminal Veracity is Greg Hickey’s follow-up to Murder in Retrograde, bringing back his likable futuristic detective for another round of sci-fi noir. Terminal Veracity is slick, raw, refreshingly easy to read, and a thoroughly enjoyable return to Carver’s world.

Hickey, like any science-fiction writer worth his rep in gold-pressed latinum, knows that the best speculative fiction is about taking the known world, nudging it a few decades into the future, and seeing what happens next. Here, he uses a futuristic setting to explore the contentious politics of abortion, individual autonomy, and the increasingly uncomfortable question of just how much privacy we’re willing to surrender.

And the world building is the real star of the show. Hickey’s timeline is deliberately undefined, far enough into the future to accommodate flying cars, but grounded enough to feel entirely plausible. Drones patrol the skies, capturing images and even delivering explosives. Remote robots serve meals and drop off packages. AI handles the web-searching grunt work. And, perhaps most horrifyingly, cheesesteaks now cost $57. Carver’s world feels new, but comfortably lived-in. There’s a wonderful sense that life has simply carried on, with a few more cameras, a few more robots, and a considerably more expensive lunch.

Carver himself is a pleasure to spend time with. There’s an appealing old-school quality to him while he navigates a strange land. The contrast works, and Hickey clearly enjoys putting his detective through the paces.

The mystery here is a fairly straightforward ride. Hickey’s clean, accessible prose keeps the pages turning as the investigation moves along without much unnecessary detouring. Hickey handles the subjects of political influence, reproductive rights, and the machinery of surveillance without turning the novel into a lecture. But readers looking for a labyrinthine conspiracy may find the journey a little too direct. Terminal Veracity moves from A to B without many unexpected stops along the way. This read is less about the twists and turns of the investigation than the world Carver inhabits and the questions that world raises.

And that’s perfectly fine. Sometimes a good mystery, an engaging protagonist, and a fascinating setting are more than enough to carry the day. Hickey delivers all three, with a brisk narrative that makes Terminal Veracity an easy book to pick up and an even easier one to finish.

The final distinction is intentional: Terminal Veracity may not be a particularly twist-heavy mystery, but Hickey’s world building gives it personality, substance, and a reason to keep turning pages. That’s a very good foundation for another Marcus Carver adventure.