An interplanetary mystery and a searing critique of the current billionaire quest for Mars. Irreverent, funny, hopeful. Plus, giraffes.

IN THE AGE OF SURVEILLANCE, HOW CAN A PERSON GO MISSING?

The year is 2187. Crucial Larsen, a veteran of the brutal Consolidation Wars, is working as a labor cop on Earth. The planet is a toxic dump, and billions of people are miserable, but so what, it’s none of his business. He’s finally living a good life, or good enough.

But then Essential, his beloved kid sister, disappears on Mars.

When Halo—the all-powerful artificial-intelligence overseeing Earth and Mars on behalf of the ruling Five Families—can’t (or won’t) locate his sister, Crucial races up-universe to find her. In the Choke, the frigid, airless expanse outside the luxury domes, Crucial uncovers a deadly secret from Essential’s past that threatens to shatter his apathetic existence…and both planets.

Blending science-fiction with the classic, hard-boiled detective story, Gates of Mars is a page-turning, futuristic thrill-ride featuring a gritty, irreverent anti-hero—Crucial Larsen.

This is the first book in a three-part series. The second (Scorched Earth) and third books (Mars Adrift) are published and also available for licensing.