What science fiction novel was about a murder mystery, involving androids, psychics, and auras?

Question

I read this book a few years ago and I can't remember the title of it. I remember that the story started off about the main character - a detective with a polish style last name. The time frame was in the near future. He was investigating the murder of his female partner - whom came back to life temporarily. The story also featured a female gladiatorial style street fighter that helped him destroy the "bad guys" at the end of the book.

I can even remember one fight of hers involving one of the android assassins that was trying to kill her and some important person's son:

I hit him with all I had, and I had a lot.

Living in the main character's building, was a psychic of sorts. She could see the auras or sigils of people, and rearrange them to change their moods. It was revealed in the novel that the killer of the female police officer was a common friend of her and the main character.

The book also featured several android/terminator type enemies that were hunting the cop down for his investigation. The female pit fighter, at the very end of the book, joined the military so she could earn a higher class of citizenship.

Any help would be appreciated. I sadly didn't own the book, I borrowed it from a coworker. I would like to read it again, but I just can't find out the name, nor can I remember it at all. Please advise.

Answer 1

That sounds like State of Decay (2010), by James Knapp.

Nico Wachalowski is a war veteran. That makes him a first-tier citizen. Formerly a police detective, he has reintegrated into civilian life as an agent in the FBI. During his time in the war, he encountered the reanimated soldiers known as 'revivors' many times. When they begin to turn up inside the city, he is tapped for his expertise in a field he'd rather leave behind.

Faye Dasalia is a police detective. She and Nico worked together long ago, but while he decided to serve, she opted to be wired for reanimation. That makes her a second-tier citizen. In the course of investigating a string of murders, she stumbles on a situation that brings her face to face with the revivors she will one day become herself.

Calliope Flax refused to serve. She also refused to be wired for reanimation. That makes her a third-tier citizen. As a result, she ekes a living in a housing project which has been mostly abandoned. Highly taxed, and with few rights, she seems to be on a path of self-destruction until circumstance drops her in the middle of the biggest terrorist plot the country has ever known.

Zoe Ott is a third-tier citizen as well, but unlike Calliope, she was born with a gift. Zoe can manipulate the thoughts of others. This ability allows her to live above the poverty line, but just barely. The gift also comes at a price; she is constantly assaulted with visions from both the past and future, with no way of knowing which is which. In the depths of late-stage alcoholism, she has long since stopped trying to make sense of it all when a particularly persistent vision prompts her to contact Nico just as events begin to unfold.

Synopsis from James Knapp's website.

Answer 2

Sounds like it could be Altered Carbon or one of the other Takeshi Kovacs novels by Richard K Morgan?