In this gripping post-apocalyptic cyberpunk epic -- equal parts  Z for Zachariah, The Road , and Elysium -- a privileged teen refugee and an aging junkie must learn to trust each other to survive a grim American wasteland.

San Francisco, 2051. Rising like neo-Shanghai over the Bay, a labyrinth of quantum accelerators, hologram dreams, and fiercely regulated androids. Forget powder, pills, or bud--kids get high slotting wafers of data under the ear, and they'll pay fat ¢rypto for the best. At the hottest nightclub in the city ... the Fang. Baz Covane is a battle-scarred thief who sticks to small-time bots. Ria Rose is the underworld "fixer" with a big-time score that could easily get 'em both killed. 'Cuz the Fang's psychotic kingpin Otto Rex has a vault with more security than a fusion reactor. And the glass inside is priceless--enough to set up Baz, Ria, and their crack team of cyber-misfits on the white sands of Tahiti forever. But this crime doesn't just carry infinite VR-Prison time--it's Baz and Ria's last shot at redemption. Forced to confess every last secret on their neurals, they'll have to trust each other completely if they stand any chance of infiltrating Otto's lair, raiding its spiraling rings of physical and virtual firewalls, to finally hack into his mind and crack his deepest layer of security, before the Blackhawks touch down with federal warrants--for Grand Theft AI.

Minority Report meets Ready Player One as a new investigator hunts down a dangerous criminal capable of high-jacking and controlling cybernetic implants. When your new employer tasks you with investigating the first successful mass shooting in twelve years, it’s understandable to be nervous. Fortunately, detective-in-training Cowan Soto has a Personal Brain Assistant -- a cybernetic implant -- that allows him to firewall pesky emotions like worry and guilt and redact memories of bullet-riddled corpses. Unfortunately, Cowan soon learns it was his suspect’s PBA which allowed a ruthless hacker to puppet her into a shooting rampage. Aided by a veteran investigator, a brilliant CFO, a nihilistic cybercriminal, and the best waifu madam in Kearny Mesa, Cowan must wade through a gauntlet of homicidal professional gamers, the Russian mafia, and the board of OneWorld to bring this ruthless puppetmaster to justice. All the while, the brand new detective is concealing the fact that he’s the exact type of criminal OneWorld has hired him to a loose circuit -- a human unbound by behavioral modification protocols. Grab your copy today and experience this breakneck technothriller from USA Today bestselling author Rhett C. Bruno and T. E. Bakutis. It’s perfect for fans of Douglas E Richards, Richard K. Morgan, and William Gibson. Full of action, mystery, and loads of cybernetic future-tech, Mind Burn explores the very question of what it means to be free.