From the Edgar Award-winning author of The Skull Mantra An ingenious thriller that "blends the bleakness of The Road with a well-crafted whodunit plot" (Publishers Weekly, starred review).
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 fallen into a life of drunkenness and frequent imprisonment for challenging the governor's tyranny. But when the community's leading scientist is murdered, Hadrian glimpses chilling secrets behind the killing that could destroy Carthage. He begins a desperate quest into the wrenching camps of the outcasts, escorted by a young policewoman who struggles to cope with the remnants of the prior world. As Hadrian navigates his perilous path, his pursuit of justice becomes a journey of self-discovery.