Underground Airlines

Robert Harris' Fatherland meets 12 Years A Slave, UNDERGROUND AIRLINES is a high concept novel with lots of suspense, and a deeply human, flawed protagonist. 'The most timely of alternate history novels. Ben Winters has created a spellbinding world that forces the reader to look around-and to look within. This is a thriller not to be missed and one that will not be easily forgotten.' Hugh Howey It is the present-day, and the world is as we know it. Except for one thing- slavery still exists. Victor has escaped his life as a slave, but his freedom came at a high price. Striking a bargain with the government, he has to live his life working as a bounty hunter. And he is the best they've ever trained. A mystery to himself, Victor tries to suppress his memories of his own childhood and convinces himself that he is just a good man doing bad work, unwilling to give up the freedom he is desperate to preserve. But in tracking his latest target, he can sense that that something isn't quite right. For this fugitive is a runaway holding something extraordinary. Something that could change the state of the country forever. And in his pursuit, Victor discovers secrets at the core of his country's arrangement with the system that imprisoned him, secrets that will be preserved at any cost. 'It is a rare thing when a writer has a fresh new provocative idea - and then executes it beautifully. This is what Ben H. Winters has done in his novel Underground Airlines. Imagine an America in which slavery still exists. Now imagine a dramatic telling of the story.' James Patterson

About the Author :
Ben H. Winters is the author of nine novels, including most recently the New York Times bestselling Underground Airlines. His novel Countdown City was an NPR Best Book of 2013 and the winner of the Philip K. Dick Award for Distinguished Science Fiction, and The Last Policeman was the recipient of the 2012 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America; it was also named one of the Best Booksof 2012 by Amazon.com and Slate. Ben also writes books for children and his journalism has appeared in The Chicago Reader, The Nation, In These Times, USA Today and Huffington Post. He lives in Los Angeles, California, with his wife and their three children.

Review :
A rich noir in a terrifingly convincing alternate America. It’s both beautiful and brutal. The Handmaid’s Tale for Black Lives Matter. A top-flight thriller that's as emotionally searing and tragically plausible as anything in contemporary fiction. Winters has written a book that will make you see the world in a new light. This one kept me up all night and changed the way I saw the world once I was finished. Ben H. Winters new novel (Underground Airlines) makes the word ‘thrilling’ seem inadequate. Not only could I not stop reading it, it changed the way I looked at everything around me once I was finished. Winters creates a powerful and timely ethical framework for his fast moving new thriller. What distinguishes Underground Airlines as literature is the acuity and penetration of Winter’s moral vision – a perception that goes far beyond and specific historical injustices … Winters allows Victor to exquisitely express our own moral unease. Underground Airlines is an almost painfully timely novel. In the wake of disengenous Brexit campaigns, #BlackLivesMatter and Donald Trump ‘s wall-building plans, an alternate history story that tackles the thorny issue of race relations feels all too relevant. Don’t be put off by the politics – it’s also a compelling thriller with a complex hero. A carefully considered, micro-detailed examination of a modern America ... Victor is a compelling, multi-layered character. Underground Airlines is bold, brilliant, and beautiful -- everything you could want from a novel, Ben Winters delivers ten-fold. He's a writer to watch, one of exceptional vision and imagination whose characters draw the reader in to the point that an alternate history seems not only plausible, but the only one that counts until the final page.