Brief

Wrongly convicted of treason, a Colonel seeks revenge against the man who framed him. Instead, he finds a streetwise dodger, a city steeped in corruption, and a menace buried deep in the Corps that condemned him.

What We Liked

- It has great characters, a fast paced plot, exceptional dialogue and an incredibly marketable concept;
- It is extremely cinematic in nature, has violent visuals, empathetic characters, and is perfect for a franchise;
- Adapting this book into a television series would needed a feature level budget. Perhaps the investment of a high end producer would be appropriate;
- Key points: Fast-paced; Great concept; Franchise potential; Genre bending; Fun action movie style dialogue.

Synopsis

The planet Fortune, on which this story takes place, is similar to Earth, but has some interesting differences. There are multiple suns, colloquial slang and crystal is the native power source. Former United Colonies Corps officer, Gideon Quinn, has been wrongfully convicted of treason and framed for the deaths of the other members of his team. He is now serving a life sentence at Morton Barrens. He has been there harvesting crystal for six years and has resigned himself to spending the rest of his life there. However, his life is turned upside down when he gets a visit from General Satsuke. She is the Corps general who convicted him at court martial. She offers him a chance to get out of jail and clear his name if he can find and reveal a spy within the Corps. Gideon decides to accept the challenge and is briefed on the spy who is called Odile. He packs up his pet draco, Elvis, and they fly in to the city of Nike to begin his quest.

Soaking in his newfound freedom and enjoying a rainstorm on the outside, he can’t help but think of Dani, the woman he let go before he went off to serve his life sentence at Morton Barrens. He hadn’t wanted to drag her down when he went away. Now that he is out he misses her more than ever. Gideon has plans to seek revenge on Jessup Rand, the man who framed him for the murder of his mates. Before embarking on that, Gideon decides he needs a bath and some food. Gideon is relaxing in a bathtub and eating the dinner that was delivered to him by the keeper of the hotel. The next thing he knows, he is being shaken awake by a thirteen year old girl as an extremely agitated Elvis looks on. His dinner was drugged with Morph and when he passed out, he slipped under the water and was drowning. The girl broke into the second story window to get inside to save him. She introduces herself as Mia. Gideon is grateful to her for saving his life, but he soon realizes that she wasn’t just passing by when she discovered him drowning. She must have been stalking him. She confesses to being a dodger sent by her Fagin, Erasmus Ellison, to steal Elvis, a unique pet in the district. He used to be a dodger himself and can see that her heart isn’t in it. Since she saved his life, it seems only natural to take her under his wing. She wasn’t the one who had him drugged. They soon discover that it was Nahmin, but they aren’t sure who sent him. Gideon also has to sidestep triplets Ulf, Rolf and Freya Ohmdahl who have also been hired to come after him. The triplets are impressed by his strength and cunning as he is able to quickly give them the slip.

Mia takes Gideon and Elvis to a diner where her pregnant friend Jinna is working. The father of Jinna’s baby is dead and now his father, Killian Del, wants her to give him the baby when it’s born. She is refusing to give up her child so Killian plans to abduct her and steal his grandchild when it’s born. When Killian arrives at the diner, Gideon fights him off. With the help of Rory, who is secretly in love with Jinna, and his boat, Gideon, Elvis and Mia help get Jinna to safety far away from Killian. Twins Rey and Ronan are hired to come after Gideon. Mia and Elvis are safely hidden away, but Gideon is delivered to Celia Rand, Jessup’s seductive and cunning wife. She told her husband previously that Gideon made advances on her and that prompted Jessup to have Gideon in his sights. She confesses to being the one who hired Nahmin to drug Gideon the first time. Celia takes Gideon to her boudoir where she tries unsuccessfully to seduce him. The next thing he knows, he awakens to find himself holding a knife and Jessup’s murdered body in a pool of blood. He realizes that he was drugged again and is now being framed for Jessup’s murder. Celia plays the part of the grieving wife well and the police are hot on Gideon’s trail. Celia keeps Gideon’s coat as he escapes. Gideon soon reunites with Mia and Elvis. The two have become fast friends much to Gideon’s delight. He shares with them his plans to confront Celia and get her to confess to Jessup’s murder. Knowing he has the Ohmdahls’ respect, Gideon hires them to work with him to break into Celia’s, force a confession and retrieve his stolen coat. He confronts Celia while she is in the bath. She confesses to everything, including that she is an empath and that she is Odile, the actual spy for whom he has been searching. She unleashes Nahmin on him, but Gideon kills him in self-defense. Celia threatens Gideon, but the Ohmdahls have heard the confession and she is caught dead to rights.

In their travels to get to this point, Mia, Elvis and Gideon have stolen an Edsel comet, spent all his government issued Starbucks, encountered the Shakespeare Circus, visited the Old Man and the Sea bar and stolen a compost lorry. Now, with Mia’s help, Lt. Hama and the rest of the police are no longer after Gideon. He is now free to help Mia spring her fellow dodgers from the Fagin’s sadistic employ. As the kids are taken to safety, Hama’s son Tiago, who is a doctor, goes along to ensure that the kids get care should the need arise. When Gideon is finally able to deliver the news to Satsuke that he has discovered Odile’s identity, she tells him that he can’t tell anyone. The entire mission was a secret. He isn’t thrilled that he won’t be able to formerly clear his name, but he understands and is grateful for his freedom. As a consolation prize, Satsuke returns Gideon’s coat she retrieved from the crime scene. When Satsuke takes her leave, she gets into the car with her partner. Unbeknownst to Gideon, Satsuke’s partner happens to be his lost love Dani keeping an eye on him. Gideon and his companions Elvis and Mia are talking with Lt. Hama after all is said and done. In their conversation, Gideon contemplates a new career as a private facilitator.

About The Author

Ex-fight choreographer Kathleen McClure writes for the love of story, character, and the desire to give readers a strong dose of optimism, cloaked in fun. Her Fortune Chronicles, occasionally shared with Kelley McKinnon, is a future fantasy that's a hybrid of Discworld and Pern, with stories that feature many different characters and can be enjoyed by all ages. Kathleen now lives in Austin, TX with her husband, two teens, three cats and a flock of rainbow flamingos in the front yard.