THE ELECTRIC CHURCH by Jeff Somers

This week, THE ELECTRIC CHURCH (UK, Canada) by Jeff Somers made its debut. Here is the book description from Amazon:

In the near future, the only thing growing faster than the criminal population is the Electric Church, a new religion founded by a mysterious man named Dennis Squalor. The Church preaches that life is too brief to contemplate the mysteries of the universe: eternity is required. In order to achieve this, the converted become Monks -- cyborgs with human brains, enhanced robotic bodies, and virtually unlimited life spans.

Enter Avery Cates, a dangerous criminal known as the best killer-for-hire around. The authorities have a special mission in mind for Cates: assassinate Dennis Squalor. But for Cates, the assignment will be the most dangerous job he's ever undertaken -- and it may well be his last.

THE ELECTRIC CHURCH has the most entertaining website that I have seen since Austin Grossman's Soon I Will Be Invincible. It makes you feel like you are visiting the website of a creepy church. You can "chat" with a church representative, or with a fellow "visitor" to the site, a guy name Ty who warns you away. You can read church literature and find out how to join the church. There is a secret password that you can use to get to pages deeper in the site. It's deliciously creepy. You could waste a lot of time here.

Jeff Somers operates a zine called The Inner Swine. His personal website has both a blog and a forum. My fellow bloggers have reviewed this book, namely the Fantasy Book Critic, Graeme's Fantasy Review, and Pat. Pat also has an interview.

I don't normally go for gritty science fiction noir, but this one might be an exception.