Rats — Joe Klingler

“A nuanced techno-thriller with both brains and brawn.” -- Kirkus Reviews

One man on a decades old mission. A woman who hunts him. And the bullet they share.

Joe Klingler's acclaimed debut novel explodes from the remnants of a war long past to headlines of Washington secrets masquerading as corporate incompetence when two modern-day warriors face off. Both skilled at violence. And deception. Both accustomed to winning.

Summer greets the land of the midnight sun as a lone rider races across the last American wilderness, delivering on a promise he made long ago. He has many names, but the world only knows a shadow called the Demon.

Claire Ferreti, an Army sniper soon to be drawn into a black-ops mission, sips sake in Washington D.C. with her lover, a young, ambitious General whose geosecurity specialty remains classified. When a boy finds a small machine, Claire and the Demon embark on a collision course that leads to a test of skill, a clash of ideologies, and Claire's unconscious body lying in a typhoon-ravaged jungle. In that instant she becomes the hunted, the Demon's tool for survival, and an unforeseen threat. As the General pursues them into a labyrinth of cyber-secrets, political necessity and financial reality collide like a fireball piercing steel pipe.

“Klingler's debut offers a deep logistical jungle sure to entertain buffs and newcomers to the techno-thriller genre. Throughout, he displays fierce writing chops. Short chapters balance action and subterfuge with political thought targeted keenly at modern drone warfare.” -- Kirkus Reviews