It is a jangling and disintegrating near-future, a world in which virtual reality has become the primary means of entertainment and the more significant part of life for most of the population. Here, Douglas Hall´s employer, Horace Siskin, the President of Reaction Inc., has created a synthetic world as a demonstration; a virtual l937 New Orleans in which Hall and his superiors Fuller and Lynch, live much of their lives. But when Fuller is murdered and Lynch disappears, governmental scrutiny and investigation threaten to destroy Reaction. Thus, Hall must find his way through this strange New Orleans to determine the identity of the murderer and the motive. He must, he comes to understand, apprehend the killer before both worlds, virtual and "real", have been destroyed.

The identity of the murderer is a stunning surprise. It capsizes the reader´s seeming understanding of the novel and casts light as well on the true meaning of virtual reality.

丹尼爾·加盧耶（1920-1976）

美國科幻作傢，賽博朋剋先驅。“考德維納·史密斯再發現奬”（隻授予給早已過世，寫下名篇，卻在生時未受足夠賞識的作傢）的獲得者。

他的處女作《黑暗世界》獲得雨果奬提名，距獲奬僅一票之差。而《十三層空間》（Simulacron-3），早在威廉·吉布森的賽博朋剋名作《神經漫遊者》麵世二十年之前，就已經深切思考瞭虛擬世界會帶來的諸多問題。