State Security Agent Nikolai South has lived most of his life by keeping his head down and avoiding notice. He attends the minimum number of party meetings; he doesn’t pursue promotion opportunities. He’s content working as a low level agent. On an assignment to check out a suspected CONTRAN (short for Conscienceness Transfer), he and his partner find two bodies as the women underwent the illegal procedure. The Caspian Republic styles itself as the final bastion for ‘natural’ humans. There is no artificial intelligence to control life; there aren’t even smartphones. Outside the Caspian Republic, three super AIs have taken over for humanity, and the problem of transferring human conscienceness has been solved. Humans can now join AIs in post-singularity electronic worlds. But the thought of this is revolting to the people of the Caspian Republic, even Agent South.

Upon the death of one of the Caspian Republic’s most famous propaganda writer, the government learns that he was a ‘machine.’ This writer was an AI in a human body, who had come to the Caspian Republic for unknown reasons. The writer’s widow is given special dispensation to come to the Caspian Republic to identify him. Agent South is given the assignment of escorting her and determining if she’s a spy. South finds himself exactly opposite of what he wants; he’s in the eyes of powerful government officials and being watched by State Security’s nemesis, Party Security. When the widow shows up looking exactly like his late wife, his loyalty will be tested. His beliefs will be tested, and South’s afraid he’ll sacrifice all for the machine that looks like his wife.

When the Sparrow Falls was an atmospheric story. It reminded me of the stories about Soviet Russia. The Caspian Republic is an authoritarian state beset by sanctions from and technologically behind the rest of the world. Everyone is afraid of the state, even those doing the thug work of the state. People are starving; people are afraid. Outside the republic, people are living much better lives and living potentially forever in a post-singularity world.

Sharpson has written an excellent noir story set in a horrifying society. The main mystery, what was an AI doing in a society opposed to its being, is supported by little mysteries throughout the story that add up to something very interesting. This story embodies the saying that the journey is better than the destination. While the solves mostly satisfied, following South through this repressed society was fantastic. As I read, I felt the same oppressive air as South. Sharpson portrayed the Caspian Republic’s stoicism in such a way as to make Russians proud.