Previously published as THE PREFECT.

A rollercoaster ride through the dark and turbulent universe of REVELATION SPACE: an interstellar thriller where nothing - and no one - is what they seem ...

Tom Dreyfus is a Prefect, a policeman of sorts, and one of the best. His force is Panoply, and his beat is the multi-faceted utopian society of the Glitter Band, that vast swirl of space habitats orbiting the planet Yellowstone. These days, his job is his life.

A murderous attack against a Glitter Band habitat is nasty, but it looks to be an open-and-shut case - until Dreyfus starts looking under some stones that some very powerful people would really rather stayed unturned. What he uncovers is far more serious than mere gruesome murder: a covert takeover bid by a shadowy figure, Aurora (who may once have been human but certainly isn't now), who believes the people of the Glitter Band should no longer be in charge of their own destiny.

Dreyfus discovers that to save something precious, you may have to destroy part of it.

'An adroit and fast-paced blend of space opera and police procedural, original and exciting' George R. R. Martin

Praise for Alastair Reynolds:

'The span here is mind-boggling, cosmos-spanning concepts, a breath-taking journey' Good Book Guide on Chasm City

'[A] wonderfully entertaining puzzle wrapped inside an adventure story' The Guardian on Eversion

'A fabulous and satisfying novel' SF Crowsnest on Revenger

'An excellent adventure that's sure to keep readers on their toes' Publishers Weekly on Revenger

'A fun, character focused bottle mystery that shifts settings like a chameleon walking across a rainbow carpet' The Quill to Live on Eversion

'Entertaining and thought-provoking' Locus on Revelation Space

'Pirates in space, full of peril and high-jinks . . . This is a novel that's elegantly plotted, full of surprises and, as first time round, rip-roaring fun' SFX on Revenger

'Reynolds is one of the modern masters of science fiction' Starburst

'This is a story to break hearts and make you turn pages. It's great stuff; pick it up, you'll want to know what happens next' SF&F Reviews on Century Rain

'Much of the fun of these books comes from the construction of a far, far-future space-opera . . . the mapping of Age of Sail tropes onto space travel is just the start . . . Nevertheless, at the centre of this baroque masquerade party resides a sober consideration of what it might mean to go off adventuring, what it might cost' Locus on Revenger

'Reynolds is a master singer of the Space Opera' The Times