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story identification - Sci fi novel about a reptilian assassin and a hacker kid



For years I've been trying to find a book I read as a teenager (late 90's). It was written in English, and I was reading it in England. I suspect it was a teen level novel, but can't really say for sure, that may just be because of my age when I read it. My memory of the details is somewhat vague but I'll do my best.


It follows various perspectives throughout, beginning with a reptilian assassin sneaking through border control when entering a planet (possibly?). I think he is there to assassinate a girl, possibly royalty.


The other major perspective is that of a programmer/hacker who works through VR, and falls in love with said girl.


I recall one scene where the lizard goes into the slums and finds a bunch of other lizards there, who are potentially treated as inferior. He is treated with respect due to the colour of his neck - I think.


At one point the girl has a tracking bracelet on, and I think the hacker guy manages to redirect it whilst the assassin is going after her.


I don't have many more details than this, unfortunately, hopefully it is enough for someone!



Answer



The book you are after is Palace by Katherine Kerr and Mark Kreighbaum.



Bestselling author Katharine Kerr joins with Mark Kreighbaum to present a vivid, alluring and terrifying world of the future. They call it Palace, the capital of a planet located in a region of space known as the Pinch. Here a bitter Lep outcast has been hired to murder two humans: Arno, the son of the Master of the Cyberguild, and Vida, a young woman destined for sensual slavery in the Pleasure Sect. Arno is on the track of strange anomalies in the Map, the cyberspace repository of knowledge. And Vida has powers that could change Palace forever. As Arno goes into hiding to escape the assassin, Vida seeks refuge at Government House, the corrupt center of authority, where betrayal is a way of life and death.




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