Risa Black will decide the fate of an entire planet. After all, an angel told her so. Orphaned young, she grows up among the resistance, fighting to give the people of Mars command of their own destiny. Two governments from Earth vie for control of the Red Planet; she wants them gone, regardless of how many explosives it takes. To the outside world, she’s an emotionless, broken marionette. Inside, her father’s fiery end haunts her every waking moment. She never cared for destiny or politics, until the angel Raziel focused her anger. Both friend and foe alike believe her grip on sanity tenuous; she knows he is real, and pities those who will never feel his divine presence. Whenever her adrenaline wears off, guilt at what her bombs did cuts deep, as does the apathy of the citizens she wants to liberate. The pain worsens after unexpected love cracks open her armored heart, causing her to question the role she plays in the bloody conflict. Torn between duty and desire, she learns change never comes without loss. Even to the Hand of Raziel.

Sometimes, the best thing a girl has to look forward to is killing someone. At learning the truth behind her father’s death, Risa Black thought she’d given up on revenge, but after an unknown enemy takes the life of someone dear to her, it’s all that keeps her going. Her hunt for the assassins uncovers a web of deceit that undermines everything she thought she knew. It soon becomes clear she’s eyeball deep in a mire she cannot bear alone. Consumed by the sorrow of loss, she accepts a mission from the Martian Liberation Front, knowing it’s a one-way ticket. Desperate to uncover the truth behind all the lies, she looks for answers in a place that should not exist: The home of the angel Raziel.

Everything Risa Black believes is a lie. Her angel is dead, the cause she’s killed for is as false as her metal eyes, and the one man she thought she could trust has deceived her for sixteen years. Smothered by deepening layers of conspiracy, she decides to embark upon the most frightening mission of her life: leaving the Martian Liberation Front. After eight years of trying to free Mars with high explosives, and a reputation as a less-than-sane killer who hears the voices of angels in her head, Risa didn’t expect to walk away clean. Her former bosses won’t let go easy, agents on both sides of the war want her dead, and truth is in short supply. A politically connected enemy threatens to purge the Front of those unwilling to play by their rules. To survive, Risa must become that which she has so long denied being—an assassin. With bombs poised to bury her former life and everyone associated with it deep beneath the surface of Mars, Risa has thirty minutes to make an impossible choice: save the life of her daughter by killing her best friend, or disarm the bombs and let her child die.