Counting Heads

A father must fight to save the world and what remains of his family after uncovering a terrifying conspiracy in a dystopian future—“One of my favorite books of last year in any category and an exemplary entry in the sci-fi genre” (The New York Times Book Review).

“Counting Heads: exciting major new SF novel. . . . David Marusek is one of the best-kept secrets of science fiction, a wild talent with a Gibson-grade imagination and marvelous prose, and a keen sense of human drama that makes it all go.” —Cory Doctorow

Less than a century from now, immortality and abundance are available to the elite few who can afford the era’s almost unlimited nanotechnology. Sam Harger, a celebrated artist and designer, enjoys a utopian lifestyle—until a random genetic scan falsely identifies him as a potential terrorist. Within minutes, Sam is stripped of his immortality and cybernetic enhancements and consigned to a marginal existence on the fringes of society. Only the fact that he is married to one of the most powerful women on earth keeps him from disappearing without a trace.

His lifespan now measured in decades, not centuries, Sam prepares himself for death, only to be jolted into action when an insidious conspiracy strikes at his family. An assassination attempt nearly kills his daughter, and Sam’s only hope of saving her cryogenically frozen head before it falls into the hands of his enemies. But in a world of clones, robots, and advance artificial intelligences, how can one crippled man overcome a top secret cabal that seeks to control the future of the entire human race?

“Marusek keeps a deep and textured take spinning along, filled with stresses, shocks, and sidelong looks at extrapolations of present-day trends.” —The San Diego Union-Tribune

“Counting Heads has every virtue of the science fiction classic it is certain to become. . . . Absolutely splendid.” —John Crowley