The Fourth World

"A very good book…another side of the wired world of tomorrow." —Orlando Sentinel


Much of the world has enthusiastically embraced the "virtual life," rejecting the cruel realities outside the big lies and shared web fan­tasies they plug themselves into twenty-four hours a day. American Santee St. John, however, has experienced real, government-imposed horrors in the troubled Mexican state of Chiapas. And along with Margaret Mayfield—his lover and kindred spirit—he has dedicated his life to the rebel cause. Then Santee vanishes into the lush and danger­ous wilds of Central America. Though his enemies say Santee St. John is dead, Margaret is determined to find him. But on a planet going rapidly to Hell, the fate of one man of conscience may prove insignificant—as Margaret's search sets her on a dark highway the corrupt and powerful are constructing in secret, a road to total ruin that winds from the opu­lent First World through the destitute Third...and all the way to Mars.


From the acclaimed author of CIRCUIT OF HEAVEN comes a stunning novel that blends cutting-edge technology with razor-sharp insight into human nature as it propels us across the digital badlands of the twenty-first century. 


"A very effective novel... [that] bristles with political passion."—Denver Post 


"One of those rare SF novels that combines human warmth and political insight in an unflinching look at the possible price of technology."—Booklist