The Jericho Iteration

A St. Louis trashed out from an earthquake on the New Madrid fault in 2012 and under the management of the sinister Emergency Relief Agency forms the backdrop to this well done thriller.

When dead scientists start turning up, Gerry Rosen, reporter for an alternate weekly, realizes that a local defense contractor and the ERA have something to hide. That something isn't a new idea to science fiction, but Steele still tells an exciting story greatly helped out by the setting of a devastated St. Louis occuppied by government thugs.

St. Louis has been devastated by a 7.5 earthquake. The Emergency Relief Agency (ERA) was mobilized and martial law was declared. Gerry Rosen, the novel's wise-cracking protagonist and reporter for the local Big Muddy Inquirer, has just learned that his friend and fellow reporter, John Tiernan, has been murdered after being shot with a laser beam. The only knowledge that Gerry has regarding the situation is what the woman looked like who requested the meeting through Gerry and the message that she requested that he pass along, "Ruby fulcrum."

This novel combines elements of both science-fiction and a murder mystery set in a dystopian environment. The ERA maintaining martial law, behaving more like swaggering Nazis, add a thriller element show more to this enjoyable novel. show less