Mind’s Edge by R. Morello focuses on a corporate investigation that leads the protagonist back to his irradiated home, introducing a cast of characters divided by the prejudice and physical mutations between the “worlders” (uninfected) and “radios” (infected).
Appearance/Identity: A 25-year-old man with short brown hair and a dark suit. He is a “radio,” meaning he is from the Infected Sector (New England), a fact that causes prejudice from “worlders”. His full name is William Allen.
Tools: He uses a transparent red plastic headband with wiring as a “blocker for radios with psychic abilities”.
Role: An insurance claims handler and investigator for Digitech in the uninfected sector. He returns home to spread his mother’s ashes and is simultaneously coerced into investigating the murders of Digitech board members.
Role: Edge’s colleague/boss at Digitech. She initially appears sympathetic.
Role: The radio assassin responsible for the mind shock murder of Jack Carver.
Description: An attractive young woman with blonde curls. She has small tumors covering the back of her shoulders, indicating her origin from the Infected Sector.
Role: One of the Digitech board members murdered by mind shock. His death is the case Edge is sent to investigate.
Role: A Digitech board member who lives in the Infected Sector (New England). He is the initial suspect in the murders, believed to be killing others to gain full control of the company.
Local View: He is considered a beloved person in the Infected Sector, and the local police are unwilling to investigate him.
Role: A close friend of Edge who runs a bar.
Abilities: She is a radio with strong psychic abilities, able to protect Edge from having his brain scanned by another radio. She helps Edge secure a sketch of the Blonde Woman.
Role: A friend of Kyree’s who works for the local Digitech installation.
Condition: He is a radio whose DNA was changed by the mutations. He is able to enter and emerge from a solid objects.
Role: Edge’s aunt and Carney’s wife. She is distraught over her sister Casha’s death.
Description: Has stringy black hair, deeply etched wrinkles, and noticeably elongated ears.
Role: Edge’s uncle. He is also distraught over his sister-in-law’s death.
Description: Balding with gray hair, his face droops with a long hanging tumor over the bridge of his nose.
Role: Edge’s recently deceased mother, whose funeral Edge attends. She was a “radio”.
Role: An artist with psychic abilities who is initially suspicious of Edge because he looks like a “worlder”. He uses his abilities to accurately sketch the face of the Blonde Woman from an image in Kyree’s mind.
Role: Edge’s estranged father. He moved the family from the Infected Sector due to his prejudice against “radios”.
Role: Edge’s uncle and James’s brother. He is sympathetic to Edge and tries to intervene in the confrontation between Edge and James at the funeral.
Role: Edge’s boss at Digitech. He is one of the remaining board members and coordinates the assignment for Edge.
Role: Digitech colleagues of David and Paula. They are openly uncomfortable around Edge because of his origin from the Infected Sector.
