Search Worlds Without End

Better Call Saul meets Nineteen Eighty-Four in this first volume in an explosive legal thriller series set in the world of Tropic of Kansas--a finalist for the 2018 Campbell Award for best science fiction novel of the year.

Defeated in a devastating war with China, America is on the brink of a bloody civil war. Seizing power after a controversial election, the ruling regime has begun cracking down on dissidents fighting the nation's slide toward dictatorship. For Donny Kimoe, chaos is good for business. He's a lawyer who makes his living defending enemies of the state.

His newest client, young filmmaker Xelina Rocafuerte, witnessed the murder of an opposition leader and is now accused of terrorism. To save her from the only sentence worse than death, Donny has to extract justice from a system that has abandoned the rule of law. That means breaking the rules--and risking the same fate as his clients.

When Donny bungles Xelina's initial hearing, he has only days to save the young woman from being transferred to a detention camp from which no one returns. His only chance of winning is to find the truth--a search that begins with the opposition leader's death and leads to a dark conspiracy reaching the highest echelons of power.

Now, Donny isn't just fighting for his client's life--he's battling for his own. But as the trial in the top secret court begins, Xelina's friends set into motion a revolutionary response that could destroy the case. And when another case unexpectedly collides with Xelina's, Donny uncovers even more devastating secrets, knowledge that will force him to choose between saving one client... or the future of the entire country.

In this second dystopian legal thriller from the author of the acclaimed The Rule of Capture and Tropic of Kansas, defense lawyer Donny Kimoe juggles two intertwined cases whose outcomes will determine the course of America's future--and his own.

In the aftermath of a second American revolution, peace rests on a fragile truce. Though the ruling regime has been deposed, the former dictator president has vanished, escaping justice. Some believe he is dead; others fear he is in hiding, gathering forces to make a comeback. As the political leadership in Washington works to rewrite laws and restore order, Donny Kimoe seeks justice. He intends to settle scores--and win lawsuits--over what happened when civil war tore the country apart.

Donny isn't the only one looking to right the wrongs of the past. The rebels he once defended are now exacting their own kind of justice. Amid the flooded ruins of New Orleans, they are building their idea of utopia--which includes kidnapping their defeated adversaries who got rich destroying the country and trying them for their crimes. One of their hostages is the daughter of an old colleague turned enemy who wants Donny to defend her. If Donny fails, the companies allied with his former friend will send their mercenaries to save her and retake the city--breaking the fragile truce and dragging the country back into violence. But if Donny takes the case, he risks blowing the trial for his most dangerous client--and being tried by his former clients for his own crimes against the revolution.

To save the future, Donny has to gamble his own. The only way out is to find the evidence that will get both sides back to the table, bring the feud to an end, and secure a more lasting peace. To do that, Donny must take even greater risks--and break his own moral code--by betraying his clients' secrets. Including one explosive secret hidden in the ruins, the discovery of which could extinguish the last hope for a better tomorrow--or, if Donny plays it right, keep it burning.