This sleek cyberpunk novel is set in the Middle East after the decline and Balkanization of the Western superpowers. It focuses on Marîd Audran, a low-level fixer in the Budayeen, the seamy red light district of an unnamed city. When a number of his acquaintances are viciously murdered, he finds himself breaking a number of his personal rules—including becoming entangled with powerful underworld figures and adopting personality-changing cybernetic enhancements—in an effort to find the chameleonic killer.

While very different in terms of subject matter, this book reminded me a bit of the contemperaneous "Hardwired" by Walter Jon Williams: solid cyberpunk fiction that includes popular cyberpunk genre hallmarks while adding some innovation of its own. Like many of the best cyberpunk novels, "When Gravity Fails" draws inspiration from hardboiled detective novels, peppering the narrative with shady cops, dangerous mob bosses, femmes fatale, sympathetic bartenders, and a world-weary protagonist. On the other hand, the Middle Eastern setting and "moddies" (personality modifying software) in particular felt very fresh. I was also pleasantly surprised to see multiple transgender characters presented as sympathetic human beings in a book published in 1987.

"When Gravity Fails" had everything I like to see in cyberpunk fiction plus some new twists. I look forward to reading the sequels.