Part of The Expanse, book 2.5
First published 2012
David Draper hunches over chemical equipment in his makeshift lab, cooking drugs for a dealer who controls the streets of Londres Nova. The sixteen-year-old chemistry prodigy needs money for university while Mars and Earth edge toward war. His aunt Bobbie, a former marine haunted by recent combat, has moved in with the family but remains distant and troubled. David keeps his double life hidden until his friend Leelee vanishes. Signs point to the drug dealer's involvement. David knows he must act fast to save her, but Bobbie's watchful presence complicates everything. She senses something wrong but cannot reach her nephew through his walls of secrecy. As terrorism rocks their Martian city and political tensions escalate, David faces an impossible choice between his future and his friend's life. The story unfolds in the hard-edged world of The Expanse, where family bonds strain under the weight of survival and moral compromise.
Genres: science-fiction, adventure, contemporary, action
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: found-family, secrets
Setting: Londres Nova, Mars
Period: 21st-century
72 pages · Kindle Edition · Orbit
Content warnings: drug-use, violence