Underground Airlines

Ben Winters (b. 1976) is a New York Times bestselling author who won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for his 2012 novel The Last Policeman. The book was the first in a trilogy of pre-apocalyptic detective novels. My first experience with the writer is Underground Airlines, a 2016 novel published by Mulholland Books.

The novel is set in an alternate history of the United States, one in which the American Civil War never happened. The book's opening page shows the map of states, some of which are free and some that aren't – meaning slave labor is still legal. These states, which are mostly America's upper East Coast, as well as the “Hard Four”, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and California, use forced labor (mostly black) to manufacture goods, for farming, and for household servitude. 

The book's protagonist is Victor, a black undercover agent who works as a U.S. Marshall. His main duty is to hunt escaped slaves and bring them to justice. He's good at it and possesses a stellar resume of apprehensions. However, there's an inner turmoil within Victor that builds throughout the narrative. 

Victor was a slave himself. Throughout the novel, readers are fed pieces of Victor's backstory that reveal his life as a slave, his eventual escape to a free state, and his apprehension by authorities. The feds offered Victor official, legal freedom in exchange for his career as a slave-hunting cop. It is the proverbial “sell the Devil your soul” dish dressed and served deliciously by the author. 

Underground Airlines focuses on Victor's trail to find an escaped slave, a plot that weaves in and out of slave and free states in a compelling mix of unique takes on history and a contemporary look at forced labor in our current society (you're probably wearing clothes stitched by a slave as you read this). I think Winter's novel is a hard look at forced labor and the intricacies of protecting big business and their pockets. It reminded me of classics like Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and how that book's main character, Guy Montag, begins to question the system and plots ways (with assistance) to upend the immoral fabric of the government. 

You can get this unique, entertaining novel HERE.