by Anthony Ryan
First published 2018
Alex McLeod walks the grimy streets of Slab, an orbital city where criminals and gene-spliced monsters prey on the desperate. The war for independence from Earth left him scarred and bitter, but it also made him the kind of detective who breaks rules to get results. The newly liberated confederation promised freedom, but criminal factions now battle for control while cold-blooded killers stalk the shadows. McLeod's cases take him from Slab's teeming slums to the lawless Asteroid Belt. He faces a clawed vigilante dispensing brutal justice, tracks a legendary serial killer through the city's depths, and confronts a beautiful vampire bearing dark warnings. Each investigation pulls him deeper into a conspiracy that threatens everything the war was fought to achieve. The detective who swore never to return to Earth may have no choice. A coming Reckoning will test whether the free states can survive, and whether one damaged man can protect the only home he has ever known from the forces trying to destroy it.
Genres: science-fiction, dystopia, crime, thriller, detective, action
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: damaged-protagonist, detective-story, found-family, gritty-world, high-stakes
Setting: Asteroid Belt, Earth, Slab
Period: Future
432 pages · Paperback · Andrew McNamara
Content warnings: violence