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This international thriller takes a look at the future and doesn’t like what it sees. In Altman’s 2056, corruption of the judiciary is rampant. Those with the means to do so bribe judges for favorable verdicts. Honest decisions are almost nonexistent. Something must be done, so virtuous individuals unite in an attempt to once again even the scales of justice.
A group of trustworthy judges team up with the Prime Minister of Great Britain and the President of the United States to institute a new system reinstating fairness and honesty and freeing judges to earn salaries commensurate with the importance of their function. They put together a small group of legal early adapters to spread the word of this initiative. Governments, especially dishonest ones, are in no hurry to comply, and all manner of obstacles are put in place to derail these new law-and-order procedures.
The author has stitched together an involving mosaic of drama and suspense. Both prose and dialogue are kept crisp and concise. Altman does a yeoman’s job of filling his radical tale with appropriate heroes, heroines, and villains. The pace is kept swift as he moves good guys forward to enlist more converts, while bad guys try relentlessly to stifle their efforts. Throughout his plot, he interjects wild technology to help his protagonists get out of all sorts of nasty scrapes. While readers may or may not buy into his advanced gadgetry, most will likely be eager to find out if justice can reverse its decline and reclaim its rightful place as the true arbiter of right and wrong.