SFF

Street Freaks

by Terry Brooks
Grim Oak. Oct. 2018. 376p. ISBN 9781944145200. $28; ebk. available. SF
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Ashton Collins's world explodes when deadly, robotic Hazmat agents burst into his apartment moments after he receives a frantic vidview message from his father: "Go into the Red Zone. Go to Street Freaks." A fugitive from the heartless Achilles Pod task force, Ash finds refuge—and perhaps a new family—in the Red Zone, the only area of this futuristic, dystopian version of California where people like the Street Freaks are tolerated. Readers will wonder along with Ash about the role he has to play among the likes of Holly (a cyborg), Tommy (a lab-grown soldier-turned-street racer), and Cay, a synthetic girl. The present-tense prose style lends immediacy to the action as the most urgent questions keep shifting. The answers speak to Brooks's (The Sword of Shannara) exploration of what makes us human—and what makes us loyal.
VERDICT Sf fans will applaud this fast-paced thriller, which has enough espionage, mystery, and dystopian elements to satisfy readers in these related genres.
Reviewed by Sara Scoggan, Fishkill, NY , Aug 01, 2018
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