📚 The Below (review)

​Book Title:  The Below by Scott T. Miller

Category:  Adult Fiction (18+),  352 pages

Genre: Sci-fi; Dystopian, Cyberpunk

Publisher: Amplify Publishing (Mascot Books)

Release date:  January 1, 2026

Meet the Author

​Scott T. Miller is an author, researcher, and educator. He comes from a long line of teachers and didn’t stand much of a chance of doing anything but working in education. He received his PhD in Global and International Education from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and his MEd in counseling from Northern Arizona University. Scott grew up in San Diego and has lived in South Dakota, Arizona, California, and Hawaiʻi. He recently moved from Oahu back to California with his wife, Bell, and dogs Hiro and Pebble. Scott adores science fiction and, at every opportunity, is writing, reading, and watching science fiction stories. Scott has authored several academic works on identity, globalism, and socio-political stratification. The themes and theories explored in his publications have influenced his fiction as he’s worked to craft relevant and immersive stories that speak to the heart of societal and human experiences. Scott has a deep reverence for dystopian stories that explore the outer reaches of human capabilities and dysfunction and has been influenced by the immense wake of authors such as Phillip K. Dick and Richard K. Morgan.

Humankind rose from the carcass of a dead world. Lifetimes later, billions of people live in superstructures constructed atop the only habitable lands left, the Hawaiian Islands. Kilohana “Kilo” Ressler lives in Hawai'i City (known to the people as Big City) along with his illegal Digital Psychological Manifestation (DPM), EO, a pseudo-twin only perceptible to the host, designed during the rebuilding years to provide companionship in a world of horrors.

Kilo has managed to keep EO a secret for most of his life, but when his skills are required for a diplomatic mission in Kaua'i City, Kilo and EO find themselves embroiled in a conspiracy that threatens to expose EO’s existence and endanger the fragile balance of power between the island cities. The only place left for answers is in the depths of the superstructure the Below. As the walls close in, Kilo must undertake the impossible task of protecting his friend, facing his past, and holding a crumbling city together.​

LINKS:

Buy the Book Links: 

AMAZON: https://amzn.to/4dCj562

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-below-scott-t-miller/1028675727

Bookshop.Org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-below-scott-t-miller/cf6adbe3ae227608

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/the-below-by-scott-t-miller

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/242876734

Website: https://www.authorscotttmiller.com/

Author’s Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/60855977.Scott_T_Miller

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Facebook:  @scott-miller  @acornsireadbooktours

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My review 4 stars

A slow-burn noir, futuristic mystery dystopia. From the great works of Blade Runner to the more contemporary Cyberpunk 2077, Scott T. Miller offers us a refreshing setting (Hawaii) for a future of greedy, corrupt corporations, human evolution, and dependence/symbiosis with AI entities that only the recipient can see. I like how the author had the idea for this book while driving and seeing the modern high-rise buildings towering over the city.

Kilo has a specific sidekick: EO, an AI twin who helps Kilohana (the main character) during his investigation with suggestions. Being invisible, EO can move freely without being seen, and with analysis of the world and people, predict the next move. We get some memories that help to add a layer to the character that clearly carries trauma. 

I felt whole reading that there is some imbalance in the pacing and what the author decides to focus on, giving us more information on secondary themes rather than the answers we want. (For example, after reading a few pages, what I remember most from that section was bacon and EO salivating).

The interaction with the colonel in Ludo and speaking with the higher-ranking one about which Designer was his favorite or not was a good build but felt to me anticlimactic (or perhaps it's the author's style to slow down tension). The same with the gladiator fight at the start. We think: what was the purpose of that scene? To show us Kilo has gone soft? No longer belongs to the Below as before? A message? A warning? 

It's easier to read a book when the reader knows a bit more than the main character, but we go on the journey with Kilo at the same level of blindness. 

Getting to the end, we get to find out what happened to Maurice. What kind of betrayals will Kilo unveil...

Kilo is understanding who he is now. Self-discovery. Choices to make. 

When we get to the end, a lot of the slow pacing and random scenes since the start gain a deeper meaning.