“Counterfeit Girl” by Pete Milligan, Rufus Dayglo

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Rating: 3/5 Stars

Written by Peter Milligan and illustrated by Rufus Dayglo, “Counterfeit Girl” is a story of a future where your identity is crucial for living as your ID is scanned and verified for any purpose. Which, of course, leads to an underground world where people can change your IDs for a price.

One of the best ‘simmers’ is Libra Kelly, who can steal not just the IDs of people, but also their mannerisms (and maybe memories) so that you can literally become that person, effectively hiding you from the corporations that scan IDs, especially Albion Corporation, which Kelly has a grudge against.

At the start, Kelly’s cover is blown, and she is pursued by agents of Albion Corporation. In an attempt to evade them, Kelly herself changes her identity. But it goes wrong, and she also gets an infection during the ID change. During her desperate attempts to rid herself of the infection, we learn more about Kelly’s past and the reason for her grudge against Albion Corporation.

But it all get turned on its head in the final part of the book, when Kelly learns that she may not be who she thinks she is. Captured by Albion Corporation, who also has a cure for her infection, it looks like it is the end of the road for Kelly: or is it?

The artwork is colourful and somewhat extreme, painting the world Kelly moves in as one that is very technological based, while still showing the lives of people who have to hide in the shadows, vary of getting their IDs scanned by the ever present robot scanners. The story itself is full of interesting twists and turns.

Perhaps there will be a sequel sometime in the future.

Book read from 2021/06/19 to 2021/07/22