• Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2020 August #1
  *Starred Review* This adult follow-up to Doctorow's YA Little Brother novels (starting with Little Brother, 2008) shifts perspective from the idealist Marcus Yallow to his sometime antagonist, sometime friend Masha Maximow. Masha has spent her life compartmentalizing, keeping her work as a surveillance contractor to repressive regimes separate from her friendship with—and clandestine support for—people attempting to hide from said regimes. When a protest in the Eastern Bloc country Masha works in goes awry due to her interventions, she is let go from her job, and her carefully crafted internal compartments begin breaking down. The narrative leaps back and forth between Masha's present, as she returns to Oakland and attempts to help a friend evade police surveillance, and her past as a teen wunderkind for the DHS and contractor under the chilly and possibly psychotic Carrie Johnstone. Doctorow explores his earlier novels' idealism and anti-authoritarian politics from the deeply conflicted point of view of someone on the inside. He remains a strong and passionate storyteller, capturing all of Masha's internal and external conflicts while also debating the real-world concerns of surveillance, counter-surveillance, and the limits of both. Highly recommended for those interested in near-future sf with a politically aware bent. Copyright 2020 Booklist Reviews.

CORY DOCTOROW is a regular contributor to the Guardian, Locus, and many other publications. His award-winning novel Little Brother was a New York Times bestseller, as is its sequel, Homeland. His novella collection Radicalized was a CBC Best Fiction of 2019 selection. Born and raised in Canada, he lives with his family in Los Angeles.