‘Judges: What Measure Ye Mete’ – C.E. Murphy (Rebellion Publishing)

It’s been a while since I’ve read anything set in the world of Judge Dredd (mostly because some of it is starting to look a little too plausible and I want my reading to cheer me up dammit!) but it’s been a shitty week and ‘What Measure Ye Mete’ kept popping up in my recommendations so I thought what the hell, lets follow the algorithm and see where it takes me. And where did it take me…?

United States of America, 2053 A.D.

There’s not a lot left for the last few cops of what was once New York City to do, these days. Officer Cera Cortez once dreamed of chasing down killers, but now she mostly just puts a friendly face on the implacable justice of the Judges.

Until a tiny robot falls onto her face screaming murder, giving her one last chance to do her job—and signs point to the killer being a Judge...

 

‘What Measure Ye Mete’ is one of those ‘quick Kindle reads’ (a very slender 89 pages long) that are just what I need when I really fancy a read but also know that I don’t have the mental energy to tackle a big book. This book is a little more than just that though… It’s one part police procedural and the rest a fascinating study of where America is, now that the still relatively new Judges have been in control for a few years. Not only that, there’s tension brewing within the ranks of the Judges as the death of Chief Judge Fargo is raising questions of the future direction of the Justice Department under Chief Judge Solomon. There’s so much then to get your teeth into but C.E. Murphy has it all perfectly balanced which I’m a little in awe of given that the story is so short. The social commentary is there but it doesn’t overshadow the plot while the plot is enhanced by the social commentary putting it all into context. You can’t ask for a lot more than that from a tale in this particular setting, it’s superbly done.

I also loved the way that the crime was laid out and eventually solved. The clues are all there but placed in that way where you look back at in, after finishing, and think ‘ohhhhhh…’ It all makes sense when you look back at it but before then, you’re pretty much left to take this journey with Officer Cera Cortez and that’s just the way it should be.

And that ending… It had to end that way but you can’t help but wonder how that left Cortez. Probably feeling very lucky but also… complicit? Maybe… Little moments like this all tie into the grander scheme of the Justice Department taking total control, you don’t have to like it but it’s inevitable.

You’ve probably guessed how I feel about ‘What Measure Ye Mete’ by now 😉 It’s a great read that any fan of 2000AD, or even just sci-fi detective tales in general, will get a lot out of. If C.E. Murphy writes more in this setting, I’d definitely read it.