Jack Four

This high-octane adventure unfolds in Neal Asher’s Polity universe as a fast-paced standalone novel. Fans of hard-SF and expansive space operas will find plenty to relish in its relentless pace and sprawling set pieces. The story follows Jack Four, one of twenty human clones created to be sold, whose captors are the alien prador, who want him for their experimentation program. Yet Jack is not just another specimen; something about him unsettles those who seek to profit from his biology. The prador’s king is itself mutated by the Spatterjay virus into a monstrous creature, along with his children, a consequence of a long-ago war that has since left a fragile truce in place. The prador are always looking for new weapons, and their experiments threaten to tilt the balance of power across the system.

Suzeal trades human slaves out of the Stratogaster Space Station, confident that the potential rewards justify the risk. The Station was once a zoo housing monsters from across known space, and while the creatures now roam the planet below, they are far from contained. A vengeful clone looms as one more unpredictable danger, and the fragile peace between species may hinge on a single, compounded threat.

Neal Asher’s books are described as an adrenaline shot targeted for the brain by John Scalzi.

Features

• Standalone novel in Neal Asher’s Polity universe
• High-octane, fast-paced space adventure
• Follows Jack Four, one of twenty human clones
• Prador king mutated by Spatterjay virus
• Monsters from a space zoo now on a planet
• A vengeful clone adds a new, dangerous angle