Blades of Winter

Almasi handles his high-octane blend of espionage, alternate history, and coming-of-kick-ass-age debut with an impressively steady hand. In 19-year-old Alixandra Janina Nico’s version of the 1980s, the “four victors of WWII”—the U.S., Russia, China, and Germany, who carved up much of the world during and after the war—keep an uneasy eye on one another via superspies with biological and mechanical enhancements. Alix, whose legendary agent father trained her from an early age and then disappeared, excels as field agent “Scarlet” for the Extreme Operations Division. Alix and her professional and romantic partner, Patrick aka “Solomon,” are assigned to retrace her father’s steps on his last mission; their investigation takes them to Winter, leader of a rebel group, the Blades of Persia, and his lethal plans for a free Middle East. The story leaps into immediate action like Alix going after an adversary and maintains its breakneck pace to the very end, with blood dripping from every page. Agent: Tris Coburn at Tristram C. Coburn Literary Management. (Sept.)