Altered Carbon

For all science fiction novels there is a certain donnée you must accept upon reading, Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan is no different.
Death is no longer the end, if you have enough money. All people have 'stacks' atop their spinal cord, where all memories and thoughts are digitally stored. Thus, were the body (or “sleeve”) to die, the mind can be placed into another body and the person will live on. As a result, real death has become rare, with even those too poor to be “re-sleeved” being put into digital storage, occasionally using rented sleeves for relation's weddings and  the like.
This brings us to the plot of this novel. A very wealthy man  suffers real death and awakes from a back-up copy of his brain, questioning why? The police investigate and find the man to have committed suicide, a conclusion Laurens Bancroft cannot reconcile with his own ideas. His thinking being, had he wanted to end his life, he would have made sure he didn't come back. So enters our protagonist Takeshi Kovacs (although not by choice), a former United Nations Envoy, a solider of the protectorate who can adapt quickly to new environments and bodies, recently discredited and imprisoned for his criminal activities. Kovacs finds himself released onto Earth, a planet he had never previously visited, and into the custody of Laurens Bancroft, our aforementioned wealthy man.
Bancroft gives Kovacs the ultimatum- find the real reason for his death or return to storage. Finding himself between a rock and a hard place, with the bankroll to pay for an army, Kovacs delves deep into the quasi-cyberpunk dystopian that Earth has become in search of answers. Due to Takeshi's often blasé way of investigating, his presence is soon noticed and his own past brings about additional obstacles in his search for the truth.

Throughout this descent into a sordid underground of a modernistic society, Morgan develops our protagonist to become much more than just an anti-hero. In some aspects he is also the victim. This style helps to pull you head-first through the dark and gritty world of the novel without losing sight of the light at the end of the tunnel.
All told, this is one of the best Sci-Fi novels I have found recently. It has an intriguing plot which will keep you reading, with characters which will make you care and set in an all too convincing view of the future.
So, if Sci-Fi is your thing, or you’re just looking to give it a chance, I would urge you to make “Altered Carbon” the next book you read.