The Maquisarde

The Maquisarde, Louise Marley, Ace Books, 2002

Ebriel Serique is living a life of luxury in late 21st century Paris. That is, until her husband and young daughter are murdered on the family yacht, supposedly by terrorists. It was in the Mediterranean, allegedly on the wrong side of the Line of Partition. Parts of the world have been ravaged by various biological plagues, so no chances are taken. The yacht is destroyed, and the bodies are cremated.

After another worldwide economic collapse, the International Cooperative Alliance (InCo) rules what has been called the "First World" (North America, Europe, Russia and Japan). The rest of the world is on the other side of the Line of Partition; no contact is permitted between them. Ebriel abandons her life of privilege and goes to InCo headquarters in Geneva to see General Glass, the InCo ruler. She is forced to publicly dig out the ID chip in her wrist, that all InCo citizens have, to get a chance to see General Glass, who treats her like an insect. She is sent to an isolated, but luxurious, prison, where she is sedated most of the time.

Ebriel's outburst is shown on the underground news nets, not on the official ones, and is noticed by a man named Ethan Fleck and a group called The Chain. Suffering from advanced multiple sclerosis, Fleck and others live on what was to be an orbiting hotel. They keep out of InCo's way by giving any inventions or bits of technology they develop. The Chain is a resistance group whose purpose is to pick up young people from the poor part of the world, bring them to the hotel, teach them things like proper hygiene and nutrition, then send them back home to teach others. Ebriel agrees to join the Chain for the express purpose of killing General Glass. Later, when she gets her chance to do it, she finds that she just can't pull the trigger.

James Bull is a Blackfoot Indian from Montana, and a loyal member of InCo security. He is part of the security detail the day that Ebriel almost kills General Glass. Knowing that she isn't a real terrorist, James does some digging in the InCo archives and finds that the official story concerning the deaths of Ebriel's husband and daughter has little to do with the truth. They fall in love and he saves her life, more than once.

This book is excellent. It's a tale of one person finding out what they are made of on the inside. It's interesting, and plausible, and really well done.