This is a series about … well, series. I do so love stories that continue across volumes, in whatever form: linked short stories, novels, novellas, television, movies. I’ve already got a list of series I’ve recently read, re-read, watched, or re-watched that I plan to blog about. I might even, down the line, open myself up to letting other people suggest titles I should read/watch and then comment on.
Part near-future science fiction, part buddy-cop comedy, part techno-thriller, part family drama: the John Simon Thrillers series by Bryan Thomas Schmidt is such a mash-up of genres that it really shouldn’t work – and yet it does, and pretty brilliantly at that. The series, which has three books so far (Simon Says, The Sideman, and Common Source) with at least two more in the works, focuses on property crimes police detective John Simon and his new partner, Lucas George.
John Simon is a middle-aged, sharp-humored, career detective with the Kansas City Police Department. He’s a bit of a Luddite when it comes to technology and a bit old-fashioned when it comes to his personal relationships, but he’s not quite the curmudgeon he claims he is. He’s devoted to his job and does it well. He’s devoted to being a father, but that’s a harder job in the aftermath of a divorce and his ex-wife’s bipolar diagnosis. And when, in the first book of the series, his partner on the job is killed, he’s devoted to bringing her killers to justice.
Lucas George is an android, one of the relatively new strain in this near-future Kansas City, who just wants to do his job as a night watchman, remain true to the Three Laws (in-world, Schmidt has the android creators follow in Asimov’s fictional footsteps), and be a good member of society. Being present at the bust-gone-wrong that eventually leads to Simon’s partner’s murder pulls Lucas into the action first as a witness, then as a civilian advisor, and by the start of the second book as a cop-in-training and Simon’s new partner.
The relationship between the two men is rocky at first, of course, the circumstances of their meeting being about as far from the definition of “meet-cute” as one can get. But smartly, Schmidt doesn’t drag it out: the “will they or won’t they be friends” subplot is wrapped up by the end of book one, and we get to watch the friendship grow and deepen over the next two books in the series. Lucas becomes Simon’s work partner and confidante and a “big brother” of sorts to Simon’s daughter Emma. Simon and Lucas’ banter is classic buddy-cop movie dialogue (Schmidt is not afraid to wear his influences on his sleeve), but not so over-the-top that it becomes grating or tiresome. The characters’ style of humor is different as well: Simon’s acerbic and dark, Lucas’s pun-filled and replete with movie quotes that sometimes are deployed at precisely the wrong time. Schmidt uses the humor to give the reader breathing space in what otherwise are fast-paced and tense narratives.
The first two books focus on Simon, Lucas, and crew stumbling onto, and then taking down, terrorist threats that feel extremely realistic given these books are set so close to our own time. The books are filled with cinematic car- and foot- (and even aerial) chases, the action enhanced by Schmidt’s deep knowledge of the Kansas City area as both a resident and as a ride-along with local police. In the third book, Common Source, the attention switches to a potential problem with the androids themselves, making it perhaps the most techno-thriller of the series so far.
Other than the presence of sentient androids, the technology of the series is very much near-future. The first book’s action hinges on black market nanotech and the third on the androids themselves, but Schmidt doesn’t project much beyond that. By setting the series in the late 2020s, he is able to keep firearms and cars and household security systems and phones and drones all pretty close to what we currently have. This enables Lucas (and when appropriate, his fellow androids) to stand out. And by having the androids be sentient as well as more capable than most humans, Schmidt sets up an on-going conversation about accepting differences and understanding the other. Lucas faces moments of anti-android prejudice in each book from a variety of quarters, not just the bad guys. Prior to Lucas joining the force, androids have been essentially a servant class. Some employers give them more free rein than others, but they’re still expected to do what they’re told when they’re told. While most of Simon’s fellow detectives and immediate bosses are welcoming of the new person in their midst, there are others in the KCPD who distrust the totally free android among them as well as those who feel themselves becoming obsolete in the presence of someone who can search for and analyze data quicker, run faster, communicate better. The condescension and growing prejudice towards androids, and Lucas and Simon’s reaction to it, is a central theme of the series. And the main characters are not the only ones who see it and act (or fail to act) on it. Simon’s teenage daughter Emma is central to the action of two of the books so far but present in all three, and it’s her bond with Lucas that helps Simon navigate this new partnership.
Simon and Lucas’ world is also filled with a fantastically diverse cast of supporting characters. Fellow cops come in a plethora of genders, sexualities, ethnicities, religious backgrounds and marital statuses (including a wonderful polyamorous grouping), as do the informants and civilians the leads encounter. These characters are more than just token window-dressing; they represent the real-life diverse make-up of Kansas City and most other major cities. Schmidt develops even the tertiary characters as full and complex personalities. The variety of personalities and physicalities among the cops reminds me of Barney Miller (in the lighter moments) and NYPD Blue (in the more serious moments, minus the gratuitous nudity), my two favorite cop shows.
But the books are not all precinct scenes and chases. Each book expands upon Simon’s family life. The tensions with his ex-wife are ever-present and Emma is becoming more and more aware of her mother’s problems and her father’s attempts to keep the peace. Simon is one of those divorcees who works very hard not to put the kid in the middle and even harder not to let his feelings about his ex-wife negatively influence Emma. The family scenes are worked organically into the mix and never feel like they are less important than the rest of the book.
Humor, action, real emotional content, characters who grow and change as the series progresses – I cannot recommend the John Simon Thrillers enough.