The Double Human »

JAMES O'NEAL is has published articles on history and Florida. He is a career law-enforcement officer and a SWAT team veteran with experience in the Miami riots. A native Floridian with a lifelong love of science fiction, he also writes crime thrillers under the name James O. Born.

JAMES O'NEAL is has published articles on history and Florida. He is a career law-enforcement officer and a SWAT team veteran with experience in the Miami riots. A native Floridian with a lifelong love of science fiction, he also writes crime thrillers under the name James O. Born.

The world has been shattered.  Disease and war have ravaged the earth.  A resurgent Germany once again threatens Europe, and the US is engaged in the Middle East while New York has been left an empty, radioactive ruin. The city of Miami has become a virtual prison, home to the worst life has to offer. Tom Wilner lives on the outskirts of this forsaken realm. He's what this future passes off as a police officer.

Amid the chaos, where crime and murder happen in a breath, Wilner stumbles into the path of wild and brutal adversary. Forced to go undercover in the most frightfully ravaged corners of the Miami Quarantine Zone, Wilner uncovers something he hasn't seen in decades...a serial killer. But the path that this killer has razed is not like any other--it appears that he has been active for nearly fifty years without any repercussions. People call him "the Vampire." Indeed, this serial killer is not human...and neither are his victims.  

Publishers Weekly

This enticing sequel to 2009's The Human Disguise blends elements of post-apocalyptic science fiction and police procedural thrillers in a near-future Miami that has been turned into a lawless "Quarantine Zone" by numerous terrorist attacks, rapid climate change, and disease. While tracking down a serial killer nicknamed "the Vampire", intrepid detective Tom Wilner meets and becomes emotionally entangled with a philanthropic teacher who lives and works in the quarantined area. As their relationship grows, both become unknowing targets of the madman. Barely-explored subplots related to an approaching space ship and the godlike humanoids already living on earth will have readers anxiously awaiting the next installment of this audaciously entertaining SF series. (Jun.)