“Welcome to the free world,” says Will Robin, the protagonist of this near-future dystopia, the first time he slices a microchip out of someone’s scalp. Soon, his patient, overwhelmed by a life in which her brain isn’t remotely medicated by the Cirrus megacorporation, collapses and weeps. In Raleigh’s inventive, liberation-minded thriller, the populace is jacked, through these microchips, into Aurora, a network originally touted for treating mental and neurological disorders. Will, though, suspects the worst, and the fact that an assassin’s targeting him and everyone he loves seems like confirmation: Cirrus “had the ability to use neural plasticity to reshape someone’s brain for profit and its own sinister purposes.”

That arresting setup kicks off a tense, polished thriller of revolutionary resistance and high-stakes chip removal as Will, a member of the Asheville, NC, chapter of the “Scalpels,” faces feds, killers, racists, and—in richly unpredictable scenes—an AI named Iris who can summon up artificial realities. She’s seemingly the product of a court-mandated Aurora implant, knows his Scalpel secret, and apparently has an agenda all her own. Raleigh intercuts this mysterious setup with characters facing their own engaging travails in a climate change-ravaged Arizona, where gangs work a black market for water.

Scenes of violence tend toward the wrenching. One unforgettable scene finds Aja tapping into Will’s fears: in a vision he can’t escape, Will, always aware his brown skin can get him into trouble from white men with power, sees himself bullwhipped by Confederate goons, passing out from the pain only to be awakened by his Aurora and forced to suffer again. Flower deftly blends contemporary fears with dark truths about the American past and its possible tragic future in a story with mysteries to burn, freedom at its heart, and serious depth of feeling.

Takeaway: This superior dystopian thriller takes on AI, climate change, and pressing issues of freedom.

Great for fans of: Omar El Akkad’s American War, Cory Doctorow.

Production grades
Cover: B-
Design and typography: A-
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-