Gizinski’s epic debut bursts with vicious gangs, corporate skullduggery, and much vivid vehicular mayhem in a future fallen America where cars, trucks, motorcycles, and more often pack “firepower almost equivalent to 20th century tanks.” But, for all that, it may surprise readers with its sense of hope. It’s been years since the grain blight, the Iranian missile attacks, and the devastating-on-their-own impact of climate change ravaged American civilization. Gizinski introduces a diverse cast of perspective characters facing their individual problems, such as preacher Jack, ministering to gang members and trying to track down a deadly new street drug, and detective/hacker Melissana, hired to investigate potential infidelity on the part of Justin Martinez, the megacorporation researcher whose algae-synthesized food has earned him the nickname “The Man Who Saved the World.”

Corey and Sue, meanwhile, are on the run after escaping and humiliating Iron Mike and his Street Jackals, who soon lay siege to the Fortress Town of Hagerstown, Maryland. Outside occasional dense and repetitive passages of description, especially involving Jack, Gizinski’s story charges ahead like Corey’s Sabretooth, a next-gen muscle car rocking “twin .30 caliber machine guns and a vehicular grenade launcher.” In the novel’s first half, these and other characters’ stories occasionally edge against each other. But after Jack’s efforts to clean up the streets without violence lead to disaster, the threads begin to tie together: this is an ambitious team-origin story, with a big, warm heart amid all the explosions and cybernetic modifications.

The action has high stakes, originality, and convincing crunch, and Gizinski develops tension across his setpieces, often building to jolting reversals. Characters connect in appealing ways, though the dialogue doesn’t always sound credible, especially the strained patois of the street gangs, who say things like “Believe me, Preach. If Scissors knew who was punkin’ that drek into our turf they’d be dead by now.” Still, readers eager for apocalyptic car wars with surprising street-preacher warmth will find much here that appeals.

Takeaway: Exciting vehicular mayhem in a fallen future America, with a sense of hope and faith.

Comparable Titles: Richard K. Morgan’s Market Forces, Walter Jon Williams’s Hardwired.

Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: B
Marketing copy: A-