"This one is fresh, intelligent, and emotional with a plot that
envisions an alternate reality hard to dismiss as unreal. It's a legal
thriller, with a big twist, stirring and imaginative, brimming with
skullduggery, that will have you asking: is this possible?"-- New York
Times bestselling author Steve Berry
Better Call Saul meets Ben Winter's The Last Policeman in this
first volume in an explosive legal thriller series set in the world of
Tropic of Kansas--a finalist for the 2018 Campbell Award for best
science fiction novel of the year.
Defeated in a devastating war with China and ravaged by climate change,
America is on the brink of a bloody civil war. Seizing power after a
controversial election, the ruling regime has begun cracking down on
dissidents fighting the nation's slide toward dictatorship. For Donny
Kimoe, chaos is good for business. He's a lawyer who makes his living
defending enemies of the state.
His newest client, young filmmaker Xelina Rocafuerte, witnessed the
murder of an opposition leader and is now accused of terrorism. To save
her from the only sentence worse than death, Donny has to extract
justice from a system that has abandoned the rule of law. That means
breaking the rules--and risking the same fate as his clients.
When Donny bungles Xelina's initial hearing, he has only days to save
the young woman from being transferred to a detention camp from which no
one returns. His only chance of winning is to find the truth--a search
that begins with the opposition leader's death and leads to a dark
conspiracy reaching the highest echelons of power.
Now, Donny isn't just fighting for his client's life--he's battling for
his own. But as the trial in the top secret court begins, Xelina's
friends set into motion a revolutionary response that could destroy the
case. And when another case unexpectedly collides with Xelina's, Donny
uncovers even more devastating secrets, knowledge that will force him to
choose between saving one client . . . or the future of the entire
country.
