The Art of War

A dark and disturbing debut by Roman and DeWeese uses the words of strategy from Sun Tzu’s classic text to set the stage for a revenge story set 20 years in the future, with a world economy even more muddied than today’s reality. Ex-con and ex-soldier Kelly Roman and his father travel to New York to covertly uncover the person responsible for his brother’s death. Kelly joins Trench, the financial company where his brother worked, which controls the future—and thus governments—of China and the United States. There, he finds that his enemy is the Prince, head of a rival company, who has modified himself to communicate with and control insects in order to uncover the algorithms that dictate the market. Nearly every page is swathed in grotesque violence, horror, and suffering (both emotional and physical), depicted in painstaking detail. Knowledge of the Sun Tzu principles scattered throughout will definitely help. The dystopian story is not for the faint of heart, but those looking for a gory thriller will find plenty to keep them busy. (Aug.)