The Jacks

The Jacks is a book for this moment in American history. It’s a gripping murder mystery set in the year 2058, in an America that has been radically altered after 4 decades of conservative policy: The rich pay no taxes, but they own nearly all the property after the notorious bailout of ’26. Anyone who protests this arrangement is quickly disappeared to one of many ‘gitmo camps’ for suspected domestic terrorists. Everyone is online and totally hacked. The slightest digital gesture can get you arrested.

Basically, it’s “The Big Short” meets Jack Reacher. 2058 isn’t working out well for Lee Nelson, an injured veteran of America’s multi-decade “anti-terrorist” occupation of oil-rich Indonesia. He’s lost his job evicting people from properties owned by Jacks, the billionaires who control the US economy and political system. A mysterious elderly tenant has been murdered and Nelson’s the top suspect. His possession of the victim’s politically suspicious pamphlet is enough to get Nelson gitmo’d indefinitely or shot to death by the vigilante squads who follow the commands of a revered radio announcer. Nelson needs to find the murderer and clear his name before it’s too late. Hackers lurk, threatening to expose his every move on global social media.

On the run, his search for the truth takes him on a terrifying trip through an America where the super-rich pay no taxes and the poor live in cars until they’ve had enough and eat their guns. Elusive anti-government underground operatives skulk around him. Are they trying to help him? Kill him? He has to find out before it’s too late. His quest has him meeting old people who recall a different time in the country, when people had dignity and dreams. They each offer him with a piece of the puzzle he must solve. On his way, he must understand and then confront the powers that have warped his life and those of many others.

Paperback