In Lionson’s thriller set in the near future, robots have taken over almost every job, and two young brothers in the Woodland family are desperate to hold on to their disappearing values.

The year is 2043, and Jason and Eddie Woodland work precarious jobs in a chop shop to make ends meet and, hopefully, save their family from financial ruin after their sister, Mia, is diagnosed with a rare genetic disease. On top of this, their younger brother is missing, and their town is under constant threat of total destruction due to widening class divides and daily riots. Pushed to their limits, the brothers accept a seemingly simple job—dropping off a bag—that promises to yield them enough money to rescue their family from ruin. But when things go wrong and drugs come into play, Jason and Eddie find themselves in prison, surrounded by even more violence and corruption. Jason fits into the new milieu the best he can, but Eddie, unable to cope with his sister’s inevitable fate, begins to truly suffer. When the siblings are offered a way out in the form of a controversial mercenary training program, they take it. Lionson expertly ups the ante in every chapter of this novel, and the pace is helped along by simple, straightforward prose. A few scenes feel a bit clunky, and occasional plot turns feel predictable. The strength of the family bond is a timeless subject for a reason, however, and in this story, Lionson delivers an unflinching portrait of dedication, resilience, and love above all else. The worldbuilding is also thoughtfully crafted, depicting a near-future dystopia that’s not dissimilar from the present. The novel also has vivid, cinematic action scenes (“Jason struck again. And again, in the nose. There was a nasty crunch and groaning, and the guy fell to his knees and immediately got hit by a boot to the ribs”), and well as a proper cliffhanger.

A somewhat uneven but action-packed speculative novel.