Recompense: Volume 1

Born into Capernica's lowest social tier and not permitted to leave Settlement 56, Jaclyn (Jack) Holloway refuses to pour out her years in the local fish cannery. She gambles on the one chance available to her to advance--the high school Exit Exam. In a country that still keenly remembers its own violent birth, the smartest and strongest are richly rewarded in exchange for military service. Jack is adamant that her best friend, Will Ransom, strives for induction with her, but Will is tied to the sea. Would he give it up for her? He's never so much as kissed her. 

Meanwhile, a string of abductions breaks out across the nation, targeting girls eerily similar to Jack. Her Exam score places her in a position to aid Axis, the underground organization investigating the disappearances. Working in tandem with the handsome Captain Ethan Alston, Jack finds she has an unusual proclivity for the case. The evidence leads them back forty-seven years, to a series of high-profile cover-ups linked to the creation of the new nation, but nothing prepares them for the face that emerges from the past. 

Jack and Ethan must make a crucial decision. Blowing the whistle could have grave consequences for loved ones they've left behind, but holding their silence means history will likely repeat. And Capernica could never survive a second upheaval.

A startling tale where past and present intertwine, fusing at the point of revolution. Have time to binge read? You've found your next dystopian indulgence.