Zoo City by Lauren Beukes

Most of the time, getting an animal companion and a superpower seems like a good thing. Not here—in this world, you become a “zoo” as a result of committing some sort of crime (apparently typically murder) and then are lucky if you end up with second-class citizen status. This is the story of a South African ex-addict scam artist named Zinzi December, as she tries to keep her life together and also track down a missing pop star.

My discussion will spoil the book like crazy.

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Overall: It’s dark. Whoa nelly, is it dark. The world-building is clever and the social politics are well done, but this is not a happy book and things do not go well for anybody. I’ve read John Constantine stories with happier endings.