A leading voice on Asian affairs and genetics delivers a “stellar and well-paced” techno-thriller that “fans of sci-fi and mystery will definitely enjoy” (Portland Book Review).
Blue Magic, the latest designer drug linked to a rash of overdoses, might explain the needle mark on the arm of a young woman found dead in her Kansas City apartment. But when Star reporter Rich Azadian digs deeper, the clues point to a far more explosive story: MaryLee Stock was a special protégée of evangelical megapastor and power broker Cobalt Becker, who is poised to deliver his followers—and the presidency—to a firebrand right-wing senator in the next election. Now Azadian is out to prove that MaryLee’s death was no accident, and that she may have been carrying Becker’s genetically enhanced baby.
In 2023 America—bankrupt, violently divided by culture wars, and beholden to archrival China—the rules of the game are complicated. With danger mounting, young women mysteriously dying, Chinese agents circling, and the US Department of National Competitiveness looking to quash his investigation, Azadian’s only option is to go rogue. He assemble a team of brilliant misfits and begins the fight of his life to find out who is killing these women and why, and if any others like them may still be alive.
“Metzl knows his science, and the detail is elegantly done while the novel moves at a nonstop pace over 41 days . . . A believable look at a not-too-distant future where science, politics, religion, economics and the ability to report the "truth" are all inseparably bound together.” —Kirkus Reviews
