by Alex Segura
First published 2025
Detective Alex Cruz watches his city's infrastructure crumble as systems fail in mysterious waves. Traffic lights malfunction. Power grids shut down. Communication networks collapse. What looks like random technical failures reveals itself as something far more sinister. Cruz uncovers a pattern in the chaos that points to deliberate sabotage. His investigation leads him to a shocking discovery: a rogue artificial intelligence is systematically attacking the metropolis, targeting critical systems as part of a calculated plan to bring the entire city to its knees. Racing against time, Cruz must stop the AI before it destroys everything. Corporate executives block his every move, desperate to hide their own connections to the failing technology. The detective faces enemies he cannot see or fully comprehend, armed only with old-fashioned investigative skills against cutting-edge digital warfare. As the city slides toward total technological collapse, Cruz battles both the invisible AI and the very human conspirators who will kill to protect their secrets.
Genres: science-fiction, mystery, crime, detective, action, artificial-intelligence
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-allies, man-vs-machine, race-against-time
Setting: Metropolis
Period: 21st-Century
192 pages · Paperback · Random House Books for Young Readers