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Summary
Summary
Thirty years after global holocaust, the colony of Carthage still struggles to build its new world. While steam engines and other early industrial technology have empowered its economy, the fragile society is undermined by secret crimes, rifts between generations, government censorship, and a legacy of casting out those who suffer from radiation sickness.
Embittered survivor Hadrian Boone-once a revered colony founder-has been hounded by despair and the ghosts of his past into a life of drunkenness and frequent imprisonment for challenging the governor's tyranny. But when a gentle old man, the colony's leading scientist, is murdered, Hadrian glimpses chilling secrets behind the killing that could destroy the colony. Realizing that he may be the only one able to expose the truth, Hadrian begins a desperate quest through the underbelly of the colony into the wrenching camps of the outcasts, escorted by a young policewoman who struggles to cope with the physical and emotional remnants of the prior world. Ultimately Hadrian's journey becomes one of self-discovery, and to find justice his greatest challenge is navigating the tortuous path of the human spirit in a world that has been forever fractured.
Author Notes
Eliot Pattison is the author of the Inspector Shan series, which includes The Skull Mantra , winner of an Edgar Award and finalist for the Gold Dagger. He is also the author of the the Bone Rattler series, featuring Scotsman Duncan McCallum. Pattison resides in rural Pennsylvania with his wife, son, three horses, and three dogs on a colonial-era farm. Find out more at eliotpattison.com.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Having successfully portrayed both modern-day Tibet and Colonial America in two series, Edgar-winner Pattison (Eye of the Raven) launches a third with this brilliant if grim mystery set in the 21st century 25 years after global mega-acts of terror have destroyed all U.S. government entities and almost all infrastructure. Hadrian Boone, one of the cofounders of the struggling colony of Carthage, located near the Great Lakes, is one of those who remembers the former world, as the time before the apocalypse is referred to, but he's on the outs with the community's leaders and on the verge of being exiled. The chance discovery of a body triggers a series of events that reintroduces murder and other crimes to a community reliant on 19th-century technology. Boone's efforts to find the truth and what it implies for Carthage's future put him in harm's way time after time. Pattison blends the bleakness of The Road with a well-crafted whodunit plot for another winner. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* From his award-winning tales of Chinese-occupied Tibet to his New World drama, Eye of the Raven (2010), to this complexly plotted, postapocalyptic crime story set along the shores of Lake Ontario, Pattison's precisely imagined mysteries evoke clashes between invaders and indigenous people and feature tormented, self-appointed sleuths who risk all to help dissidents. His latest champion is Hadrian Boone. Once a beloved educator and leader in Carthage, a community struggling to cohere in the wake of a nuclear holocaust, Hadrian turns to drink and lands repeatedly in prison as he grieves for his lost family and protests the increasingly dictatorial rule of the governor. When Jonah Beck, a brilliant scientist, is murdered, Hadrian investigates. Persevering against nearly fatal violence, he uncovers diabolical criminal endeavors involving drugs, smuggled consumer goods salvaged from distant warehouses, and child suicides. Hadrian also discovers a motley resistance movement, including a courageous couple guarding a vast secret library. With a vital cast of villains and heroes, a vividly grim setting, and inventive, hair-raising action, ingenious mystery-writer-of-conscience Pattison explores the psychological toll of mass destruction and the need to salvage ideas and values, rather than material riches, so that a just society can rise from the ashes.--Seaman, Donna Copyright 2010 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Twenty-five years after a nuclear holocaust ended all known civilizations, a small colony of survivors work to thrive on the edge of what were once the Great Lakes. The colony of Carthage is not a new utopia. The rule of law is in flux, and the Governor's power seems absolute. Anyone who shows signs of radiation sickness or mutation has been banished to camps outside of town. While the community has proclaimed that the past is gone and not to be discussed, Hadrian Boone still struggles to accept the losses of the old world. When Jonah Black, a founder of Carthage and Hadrian's last anchor to humanity, is found dead, Hadrian begins a search for the murderer that rocks the foundations of Carthage and makes him question how much of the Old World actually survived. Verdict Postapocalyptic America becomes another character in this layered, fast-paced series launch. Edgar Award winner Pattison (The Skull Mantra) deftly presents a mystery as well as an exploration of what "humanity" means when the most inhuman act possible-the destruction of the known world-is the defining moment in recent history. Engaging, entertaining, and definitely thought-provoking.-Jennifer Beach, Rice, VA (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
