A genetically-altered clone. A college graduate. And it’s a long way to Canada…

Harper Rawls struggles to come to grips with her parents’ deaths - but it’s not going well. Accompanying her guilt and inadequacy, she’s somehow gained the attention of an anti-cloning extremist organization. Out of “respect for her father”, they now watch her every move.

Ordell Bentley, a genetically-altered clone, flees violence at the hands of the same group. Death stalks him through the nascent jungles of League City, Texas as he makes his way to his lover’s house to warn her, only to find Harper instead.

The only escape is through the mid-western desert, and Ordell has no food, no money, and no transportation. Hunted by the HPM and an unseen stalker, and plagued by a corporate-sponsored bounty that creeps steadily upward, the future is bleak…

Models and Citizens takes place in dystopian future where the climate has moved on, taking with it the jobs and dreams of the people. Models, genetically-altered clones like Ordell, work the jobs others won’t, and are hated for it, but since escape means death, most suffer in silence.

A cross between Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go and Bladerunner (based on Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep), this novel entertains from the first paragraph to the last sentence as Harper and Ordell struggle to survive in a post-climate change world. If you loved Atropos by John Lapuntich, you will enjoy this gripping thrill ride.

Models and Citizens is an action-packed rollercoaster of a novel that moves at a breakneck speed and leaves you asking for more. - Reader’s Favorite (5 - stars)

Paul Hikari