Blurb and artwork for Gavin Smith's 'Veteran'

This is a debut I've been anticipating this year, and I finally received an ARC recently courtesy of Gollancz.

Here's the blurb:

"Ex-special forces soldier Jakob Douglas is having a bad day. He thought he was done fighting Them. Genetically modified and technologically enhanced, he lost his abilities when he left his job. His weapons were shut down, his upgrades disabled. Since then he's become mired in addictions in a desperate bid to regain his razor-sharp 'enhanced' edge. But when he is reactivated and forced to track down an alien infiltrator on Earth (one of Them, like the creature which wiped out his entire squad) he finds himself on the run. And wishing he was back home deep in a whiskey bottle.

Veteran is a fast paced, intricately plotted, breathtakingly violent SF thriller. Superb dialogue laced with black wit mixed with brilliantly described action in a major debut from Gollancz."

I don't read an awful lot of SF, but this has certainly got me excited - sounds right up my street. I loved Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon, and Veteran sounds similar - very noir. Looking forward to reading this one very much...