An astute, socially relevant tale, set in a world that readers will happily get lost in. Kirkus Reviews Detective Jimmy Hidalgo tracks a serial killer whose first victim was Jimmy's best friend, in a San Francisco on the brink of social insurrection. The killer has a terrifying new way of murdering her victims. Salvor Becky Wiley recovers a mysterious object from burned out suburbs in a balkanized Los Angeles. She does not sense the importance of the enigmatic artifact until the LAPD and FBI try to seize it. As Becky realizes that her salvage is too hot to handle, and as Jimmy concludes that the man paying him to find the killer is an extraterrestrial, this slow-motion apocalypse shifts into high gear. Pursued by cops and aliens, Becky and Jimmy converge on the Palm Springs Free City in secessionist Aztlán. When exotic artifact and serial killer meet, the near cataclysmic confrontation and the galaxy wrenching conclusion will determine the fate, not merely of Jimmy and Becky, but of all humanity. 1% Free is a near-future science fiction political thriller. This fast-paced novel has fascinating characters, a rollicking plot, stunning narratives, and sharp dialogue, all written in a slashing, evocative style. G.A. Matiasz explores utopian and dystopian themes, extreme politics on the radical left and right, wild-assed youth countercultures, and smart meditations on science, cartography, technology, and extinction, proving "once again that Sci-Fi is our only literature of ideas." If 1% Free is a fraction as prescient as his first novel, the 1994 underground classic End Time, humanity is in for some rough times. A compulsive page-turner, this novel will keep you up at night worrying about the fate of our country and our planet for years to come.
