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Mindscan by Robert J. Sawyer
01/11/2005 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
pub: TOR. 299 page hardback. Price: $24.95 (US), $34.95 (CAN). ISBN: 0-765-31107-0. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check out website: www.tor.com
One thing that has always puzzled me about Robert Sawyer's books: They aren't readily available in the UK. This is a shame since he's been rather prolific in recent years and seeing any of his books arrive in our books to review is rare to say the least. He's also a rather clever SF author who can play with advanced science speculation and how it affects the law. Granted the latter is mostly from the US and even Canada interpretation but if you've seen enough US courtroom series then this shouldn't phase you. Sawyer has a delightful way of putting things over so that even the layman can follow what is going on.
Point of ruling here is in 2045 where a firm called Immortex has developed a technique of transferring a copy of your personality into the brain of an android. For the wealthy, it allows them to have a continued existence beyond their normal life and, as in the case of 40 year-old wealthy Jake Sullivan, knowing that you have an illness brewing in your head that would leave him in a vegetative state like his father, a chance of having a life at all. As the android bodies can be equipped with fingerprints and retina scan objectivity, the original bodies or shed skins as they are nicknamed are sent to a colony on the far side of the Moon where they can live out their lives in luxury and not cause an ID conflict on Earth.
For the newly housed Jake Sullivan, he falls for the re-housed famous novelist Karen Bessarian, an 80 year-old now in a younger body. Things get on well until her son contests in court that she isn't his mother, who recently died on the Moon. The court settlement if lost would mean him inheriting her wealth. Sullivan's shed skin on the Moon, given the best care suddenly has an opportunity for a cure for his own illness. Restored, he wants to return to Earth but finds this blocked. He sees no choice, although still recovering from his cure, but to hold people hostage in order for Immortex to see things his way.
Even in a brief synopsis as I give above does not do justice to this story. The most important aspect of 'Mindscan' actually concerns itself with the rights of personality to be legal regardless of what kind of body contains it. The fact Sawyer also makes a crackingly good novel out of it while addressing this angle makes this a delight. He also covers other bases where different aged folk can find love once the concerns of body age can be discounted.
Having personalities in new bodies is something that has been done in SF before but this angle of exploration hasn't. Since the story is set only 40 years into the future, there is enough contemporary reference to keep people on their toes for things to compare it to. Should such an operation become feasible then 'Mindscan' is the one book you will want in your collection to check on your rights. Just make sure your will covers this option though.
GF Willmetts
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