Book 3: Parrish Plessis Series
Parrish Plessis, sometime coup leader, paid assassin and ex-bodyguard, is finding life tough. Betrayed by the enigmatic Loyl Daac, and still under blood debt to the deadly Cabal Coomera, Parrish is trying to hold together the little empire she’s inherited in the Tert, live up to the expectations of the many strays and waifs she’s accumulated, and attempt to flush the high-tech parasite from her system before she becomes something so much less than human.
Not an ideal lifestyle, Parrish would be the first to admit, but she can make everything alright again if she can manage just one little task. Bring down the media.
Just another day for Parrish Plessis …
Reviews
“Forget Lara Croft or Aeon Flux—from Australia comes the most kick-ass heroine ever. Parrish Plessis is the postmodernist woman to end all cyborgs; she might eschew body modification and even personal hygiene on occasion but that’s because she’s too busy dealing with life as a warlord in a Mad-Max gone madder society. It’s a post-apocalyptic world of divided loyalties; sci-fi readers might think they’ve read it all before from William Gibson and Neal Stephenson but this series introduces what the masculinst dystopias needed—a female. Parrish is Emma Peel cool and Uma Thurman capable. But she’s Stephanie Plumb funny and totally unpredictable. Which is cool for a bounty-hunter-slash-assassin, right? ….Crash Deluxe is the fitting finale to the Plessis trilogy; a darkly humorous, dizzyingly fast and technologically dazzling series which had readers clamouring for each instalment.”
– queenslandbooks.com
“It’s a book that manages to be highly political as well as sexually charged, combining grotesque horrors with angelic beauty in one wide sweep… Crash Deluxe is often shocking, an intense rush of sensations and emotions as Parrish tries to unravel a tangled web of deceit, conspiracy and crimes against the disempowered. This thoroughly modern heroine makes for fascinating reading.”
– Warpcore
“Marianne de Pierres latest release, Crash Deluxe, which is one of our current crop of SF Book Picks, has only recently hit the shelves. Spookily part of Crash Deluxe pre-empted the recent Doctor Who by involving the Media and questioning its role in defining ‘reality’ for many people, while taking a good look at the have and have-nots inequality in society. She may be able to change things, but will even her best intentions really make things better? There are no easy answers or black and whites here as Marianne avoids the easy route a lazier, less gifted writer may have taken. Like Richard Morgan, Marianne shows that you can have action and sex without dumbing down or sacrificing intelligent plotting or good characterisations (what would Parrish Plessis and Takeshi Kovacs make of each other I wonder?). Highly recommended and perfect to slip into your flight bag if you’re about to go off on holiday.”
– Forbidden Planet
“Once again Parris Plessis charges in with all guns blazing to places even the most convinced-of-their-own-immortality angels would fear to tread. Swapping her usual weapons-with-everything outfit for the body of a high-society amorata sex toy, she infiltrates the virtual labyrinth of realities. Somewhere out there is a highly-developed intelligence which the all-powerful information owners want to harness. Crash Deluxe is another total blast of a novel from de Pierres. Its technology gets ever-more hyper and the lines between virtual/real/human/altered human become increasingly blurred as the story progresses. The central themes however, stay the same – how do you define right and wrong,and who are the real monsters at the end of the day?”
– Ottakars
“…Crash Deluxe will find a place with its fellows on my ‘first-rate cyberpunk’ shelf. I can only hope Marianne de Pierres won’t keep me waiting too long for the next volume.”
– SF Crowsnest
“Parrish is far more than a Buffy/Mad Max hybrid – this is a seriously fun series of post-cyberpunk novels with a Jon Courtenay Grimwood-esque touch and one of the growing group of books with powerful female lead characters illustrating clearly that action-SF isn’t just for the boys anymore!”
– Forbidden Planet Bookstore
