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The Halter
Published by Diversion Books
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
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Table of Contents
About The Book
Combining the inventive worldbuilding of Philip K. Dick and the elegiac longing of Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye and for fans of Ready Player One and Rabbits, The Halter by Darby McDevitt (lead writer for Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag) is a debut sci-fi novel that fuses cyber-noir, psychological suspense, and high-concept speculation in a breakneck search for truth inside a utopian metaverse on the verge of collapse
In a world where virtual addiction kills, Kennedy Stark is paid to pull the plug. A professional halter—part detective, part counselor—he trawls the world’s darkest surrogate-reality feeds in search of the lost. When he isn’t working, he’s dreaming of a one-way ticket to Mars, where a new colony has been established as a hopeful alternative to an Earth in the early stages of climate collapse.
One evening, after a botched rescue attempt, a mysterious client offers Kennedy a tantalizing new case: brilliant software engineer Delia Walsh, who Kennedy fell in love with years ago, has disappeared inside a surrogate reality project called The Forum. Entering under an assumed identity, Kennedy finds a simulation unlike any other. The Forum bills itself as a tool for cutting-edge scientific research and radical philosophical investigations, but the signs of its corruption are everywhere. As Kennedy investigates, he learns Delia had been working on a new simulation that could upend The Forum’s primary purpose, and that even in this prurient playground for the super wealthy, the dangers are very real.
Brimming with black humor, hardboiled attitude, and a cast of endearing misfits lost in brittle fantasies, The Halter introduces a charismatic detective and heralds a unique and assured new voice in sci-fi crime.
In a world where virtual addiction kills, Kennedy Stark is paid to pull the plug. A professional halter—part detective, part counselor—he trawls the world’s darkest surrogate-reality feeds in search of the lost. When he isn’t working, he’s dreaming of a one-way ticket to Mars, where a new colony has been established as a hopeful alternative to an Earth in the early stages of climate collapse.
One evening, after a botched rescue attempt, a mysterious client offers Kennedy a tantalizing new case: brilliant software engineer Delia Walsh, who Kennedy fell in love with years ago, has disappeared inside a surrogate reality project called The Forum. Entering under an assumed identity, Kennedy finds a simulation unlike any other. The Forum bills itself as a tool for cutting-edge scientific research and radical philosophical investigations, but the signs of its corruption are everywhere. As Kennedy investigates, he learns Delia had been working on a new simulation that could upend The Forum’s primary purpose, and that even in this prurient playground for the super wealthy, the dangers are very real.
Brimming with black humor, hardboiled attitude, and a cast of endearing misfits lost in brittle fantasies, The Halter introduces a charismatic detective and heralds a unique and assured new voice in sci-fi crime.
Product Details
- Publisher: Diversion Books (February 17, 2026)
- Length: 336 pages
- ISBN13: 9798895150887
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Raves and Reviews
“Award-winning video game writer Darby McDevitt has ported his storytelling skills…with his debut novel, The Halter….Though on the surface McDevitt's story is science fiction, its bones are pure noir. The story centers on a missing person mystery and is populated with virtual and actual corrupt politicians, mafia-like criminals, gun-toting thugs…and plenty of whiskey served up in smoky bars. The prose is sharp and gives off a distinct aroma of 1940….While McDevitt might have been satisfied with simply telling an exciting, intelligent noir tale wrapped in a cyber setting, he goes beyond that with an examination of several themes that tend to provoke thought and give the story a greater sense of heft….if you're an award winner in one medium, there's a damn good chance you’ll one day become an award winner in another.”
—Open Letters Review
"With The Halter, Darby McDevitt has remixed the anxieties of Blade Runner, Snow Crash, and Ready Player One, but with a wonderfully assured classic-gumshoe spin. What in lesser narrative hands might feel derivative instead feels transformative. This is to say nothing of the disquietingly plausible tech dystopia he's imagined from the ground up. A first-rate entertainment."
—Tom Bissell, author of Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter
“Assassin’s Creed game developer McDevitt shines in his sci-fi noir debut, plausibly imagining a future in which many have become addicted to ‘surrogate realities'....McDevitt’s Chandleresque protagonist finds the path...challenging and hazardous, creating a gripping and twisty mystery for readers. Fans of Nick Harkaway will be riveted.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Darby McDevitt channels his world-building brilliance into his sci-fi debut—cinematic, exhilarating, and deeply satisfying."
—Jean Guesdon, Creative Director of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag
“McDevitt's striking debut imagines a dark future that seems all too possible, and serves it up with a bourbon on the rocks. A propulsive Neo-Noir that asks the big questions, The Halter is a triumph.”
—Chris Wooding, author of the Darkwater Legacy series
"McDevitt's debut is a detective story that blends the real and virtual worlds, and asks if putting the virtual power of gods in the hands of enterprising coders and hackers—and the corporate interests backing their efforts—is really a good idea."
—Booklist
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