A timely account of the lengths those with power will go to preserve it, and the determination of those they exploit to destroy everything in the name of freedom anew.
WAKE OF WAR
by Zac Topping
Forge/Macmillan, July 2022
(via JABberwocky)
The United States of America is a crumbling republic. With the value of the dollar imploding, the government floundering, and national outrage and resentment growing by the hour, a rebellion has caught fire. The Revolutionary Front, led by Joseph Graham, has taken control of Salt Lake City.
In a nation where opportunity is sequestered behind the gilded doors of the rich and powerful, joining the Army seemed like James Trent’s best option. He just never thought he’d see combat. Now Trent finds himself on the front lines fighting for something he doesn’t even know if he believes in. Destroying innocent lives wasn’t what he signed on for, and he can feel himself slipping away with every casualty.
Sharpshooter Sam Cross was just fourteen when American soldiers gunned down her parents and forced her brother into conscription. Now, five years later, retribution feels like her only option to stitch the wound of her past. She has accepted Joseph Graham’s offer to be his secret weapon. His Reaper in the Valley. But retribution always comes at a cost.
When forces clash in Salt Lake City, alliances will be shattered, resolve will be tested, and when the dust clears nobody will be able to lie to themselves, or be lied to, again.
Zac Topping grew up in Eastern Connecticut where, contrary to popular belief, it’s not all trust funds and yacht clubs. He spent his formative years on the move, as some do, and discovered a passion for writing early in life. He is a veteran of the United States Army and has served two tours in Iraq. He currently lives with his wife in a quiet farm town in Connecticut and works as a career fire fighter. WAKE OF WAR is his debut novel.
Madison Kelly, a San Diego private investigator, arrives home to a note stabbed to her front door: “Stop investigating me, or I will hunt you down and kill you”. The only problem? Madison hasn’t been investigating anyone—she’s been taking time off to figure out what to do with her life. But how does she prove a negative? The only way to remove the threat is to do exactly what « Anonymous », the note writer, is telling her not to do: investigate to see who left it. Could this have something to do with the true crime podcast she’s been tweeting about, and the missing girls?
Also available:
Nobody at Sussex Police wants to be PC Harriet ‘HRH’ Holden’s partner. She’s a bit stuck up, a stickler for the rules; she rubs people up the wrong way. It’s only PC Rutherford Barnes who’s happy to work with her. Although they’re not friends exactly, he shares Harriet’s ambition and idealism. He respects her. So, when Harriet’s battered body is found in a shabby bedroom at the down-at-hell Atlantic Hotel on Eastbourne seafront, Barnes determines to seek justice for his colleague. He sets out to discover who killed Harriet, and why. As the newly-promoted DC Barnes investigates, he discovers that Harriet had a secret – and she knew the secrets of others. As Barnes uncovers a layer of corruption that leads right to the very top, he faces a terrible decision: justice for Harriet – or his police career.
‘Twelve inmates, one chamber. It’s time to face justice, live!’
Daniel had the perfect life: a beautiful girlfriend, a great job, a lovely home. But twenty years ago he witnessed something he never should have seen. And now he’s plagued by memories of that night.