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Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite
In Retro (The Beast Within) by Mashrur Alam, after his father loses the family’s money, young Montgomery Alum is sent to live with Richard Conwell, a wealthy family friend whose estate conceals ties to terrorist leader Laham Drakuvi. A violent attack destroys Montgomery’s former life, leaving him presumed dead while Drakuvi’s organization continues expanding its influence from the shadows across Fiore. Years later, Montgomery serves the Federal Intelligence Service under the name Agent Retro, hunting the syndicate that remade his future. His investigation brings him to Oakville Police Commissioner Radhika Mehta as Drakuvi launches a campaign that weaponizes demonic hallucinations through experimental technology. Retro’s pursuit soon exposes a hidden connection inside his own family, bringing him closer to the man behind Fiore’s approaching war before the syndicate can seize the country for itself.
Mashrur Alam's Retro (The Beast Within) is a wildly inventive technological espionage thriller powered by speculative science. Agent Retro is likeable despite being rough around the edges because he actually cares. This shapes his partnership with Radhika throughout the investigation, especially whenever her safety is threatened. The assassin, Quinzella, is Alam's most fascinating character and where the science fiction leans in. Her holograms and hallucinogenic traps leave Retro unsure whether the figure before him is human. The settings are spectacular, the standout being one of Retro’s later missions in Aratia, a desert kingdom, and the Raven Tavern. Alam paints an illegal subterranean speakeasy, reached through a green door in a decaying alley, for readers. The pace amps up when vanished Antarctic researchers send Retro and Agent Jess across a storm-battered coast toward a heat signature behind the ice, and it is absolutely heart-thumping. This uncommon and wonderful fusion suits readers of speculative crime fiction.
