Showdown

"The fate of the world hangs in the balance when the ultimate biological weapon is unleashed. Back in print with a stunning new cover, this novel marks the explosive finale to the Card Shark triad, begun with Card Sharks and Marked Cards, set in the Wild Cards universe created by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Game of Thrones. An alien virus ravages the world, with effects as random as a hand of cards. Those infected either draw the black queen and die, draw an ace and receive superpowers, or draw the joker and are bizarrely mutated. The uninfected are known as nats. The Card Sharks-a shadowy organization determined to wipe out the wild card virus at all costs-has been brought to light thanks to the efforts of nat investigator Hannah Davis and ace-politican-turned-joker Gregg Hartmann. But a cornered animal is a dangerous animal, and the Sharks still have one final card to play: the Black Trump. This is the ultimate biological weapon, designed to kill everyone with the Wild Card virus-and its success rate is one hundred percent. Across the world-from New York's teeming Jokertown and the Joker's Quarter of old Jerusalem to the Free People's State of Vietnam-the viral bombs are ticking . . . and time is running out"-- Provided by publisher.