In Thirteen, Richard K. Morgan radically reshapes and recharges
science fiction yet again, with a new and unforgettable hero in Carl
Marsalis: hybrid, hired gun, and a man without a country . . . or a
planet.
Marsalis is one of a new breed. Literally. Genetically engineered by the
U.S. government to embody the naked aggression and primal survival
skills that centuries of civilization have erased from humankind,
Thirteens were intended to be the ultimate military fighting force. The
project was scuttled, however, when a fearful public branded the
supersoldiers dangerous mutants, dooming the Thirteens to forced exile
on Earth's distant, desolate Mars colony. But Marsalis found a way to
slip back-and into a lucrative living as a bounty hunter and hit man
before a police sting landed him in prison-a fate worse than Mars, and
much more dangerous.
Luckily, his "enhanced" life also seems to be a charmed one. A new
chance at freedom beckons, courtesy of the government. All Marsalis has
to do is use his superior skills to bring in another fugitive. But this
one is no common criminal. He's another Thirteen-one who's already
shanghaied a space shuttle, butchered its crew, and left a trail of
bodies in his wake on a bloody cross-country spree. And like his
pursuer, he was bred to fight to the death. Still, there's no question
Marsalis will take the job. Though it will draw him deep into violence,
treachery, corruption, and painful confrontation with himself, anything
is better than remaining a prisoner. The real question is: can he remain
sane-and alive-long enough to succeed?
