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Several centuries into the future, humanity has spread across the far reaches of the galaxy, colonizing a dozen habitable planets. One particular planet, Brink, has minimal calcium, so the government names this valuable element the official currency. As a result, other governments start to suppress calcium shipments to maintain favorable exchange rates, and illnesses relating to calcium deficiencies increase. Taryn Dare is a collections agent, working for the government agency responsible for finding and recovering black market calcium and earning a bonus based on the weight of the illegal product she recovers. The book opens with her chasing down a busboy who is stealing chicken bones from his workplace. Not surprisingly, the black market includes human remains, and a simple corpse recovery turns complicated. She teams up with a commerce board auditor, who's investigating a calcium shortfall in the system, to uncover a vast conspiracy that places both of their lives in danger. The reader will root for Taryn as she gradually learns the full impact of her actions and desperately tries to make changes in this uniquely realized world.--Frances Moritz Copyright 2019 Booklist

Publishers Weekly
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Hollywood script reader Ollinger turns to writing with a gut-punching debut about a planet, Brink, where thousands of people are sick from calcium deficiencies. On Brink, calcium is so scarce it has become the planet's currency, and there, collections agent Taryn Dare tracks down black market calcium. When she finds a dying girl suffering form a strange calcium-related illness, she uncovers a conspiracy that upends her life and could cause the same upheaval planetwide. Taryn and Brink are both perfectly matched and foils for each other: Brink is just past its frontier stage and coming under extensive corporate control, strong-spirited Taryn is disciplining herself to eventually leave for good. Her spirit emerges in layers, with Taryn rising to each fast-paced challenge. Some of the seemingly impossible situations feel a little overdone, but her escapes come from teeth-gritting guts. Other characters who are quietly strong in their own right, and a well-wrought landscape poised between rising and ruin, round out this bleak but energized story that will satisfy fans of darker SF. Agent: Rachel Ekstrom, Folio Literary. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.