First published 2016
Victor works as a bounty hunter for the US Marshall Service, tracking down runaway slaves in exchange for his own freedom. In this alternate America, slavery endures in four states known as the Hard Four. When Victor arrives in Indianapolis pursuing a fugitive called Jackdaw, he senses something wrong with his assignment. The case file contains gaps. His handler conceals crucial information about why this particular runaway matters so much. As Victor infiltrates the Underground Airlines abolition network, following Jackdaw's trail through churches and parking garages, his investigation grows stranger. He encounters a woman and her child who challenge everything he believes about his work. Victor has convinced himself he's a decent person doing necessary evil to preserve his hard-won liberty. But tracking Jackdaw exposes explosive secrets about the government's relationship with the Hard Four. These revelations force Victor to confront the true cost of his freedom and question whether any person can remain good while serving a fundamentally corrupt system.
Genres: dystopia, american-fiction, thriller, alternate-history
Vibes: dark, emotional, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Indianapolis, United States
Period: 21st-century
336 pages · Hardcover · Mulholland Books
Content warnings: slavery, violence