ANGELS

In this SF sequel, an elite team’s search for an abducted teenager pits them against dangerous human traffickers.

By 2048, the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, and other factors have devastated the world. Although dystopian America lacks a central federal government, it does have a covert agency of technologically advanced personnel called CYBER (“Cybernetically-Enhanced Response Force”). Jack Mathews leads one of CYBER’s teams, who gear up for a mission to rescue Kelly Elverson, the teenage daughter of a man Jack knew back in his days as a pastor. It’s quickly apparent that human traffickers grabbed her, but the combat-trained and cybernetically altered team is ready and “wired” with hacking skills, increased speed, and super-strength. In a “fortress town” called Witch City (formerly Wichita, Kansas), CYBER plans to infiltrate a dangerous underworld and shut down the traffickers’ organization. However, their hunt for Kelly and other kidnapped teens ultimately sends Jack and his team right onto a megacorp’s home turf. This corporate conglomerate, like others of its kind, is as powerful as any government and dabbles in all sorts of nefarious deeds. Gizinski’s follow-up to The Metal Within (2016), despite its epic length of more than 600 pages, matches the brisk pace of its predecessor, as when CYBER, at various points, makes precarious deals with biker gangs, gets caught up in gunfights, and races to escape a high-rise. The large cast includes returning characters, new enemies, and potential new CYBER recruits. Throughout, the narrative gleefully shuffles through a range of character names, as some have codenames (like Jack’s “Preach” and his older handle “Greyscale”) and others have undercover aliases. Some players wind up in engrossing subplots—most notably CYBER member Josanne Sinclair, whose brother, James, may have a tie to the traffickers. The author’s crisp, concise prose ably steers clear of excessive violence and opts for such four-letter words as drek and popular genre expletive frak, known for its use in the Sci-Fi Channel show Battlestar Galactica. Gizinski teases another sequel, but this story’s denouement is a rewarding payoff.

A smashing novel that delivers action, solid characterization, and plenty of metal.