It’s 2045. AI runs the world. Earth’s first trillionaire has “overdosed en route to Mars,” and his successor in the world of the superwealthy is conducting eldritch explorations of animal intelligence to possibly nefarious ends. Prologue to all that, in Andersen’s latest, is a devastating attack on Oklahoma City by fascist militia as America is dividing, the blue United States facing off against the red Free American Republic. Rationalizes Natalie Frederick, a dual citizen living in red Tennessee, “Yes, the politics of Disunion are still driving some people to kill, but—grading on a curve—three or five or ten deaths a week among 375 million basically rounds down to zero.” Andersen populates this bitter dissolution with real characters, from Trump (who dies of “a massive brainstem stroke while on the famous escalator to a 20th anniversary celebration of his first presidential candidacy”) to a fulminating Tucker Carlson, whipping up right-wing frenzy from the confines of West Texas. Enjoying a supermajority with MAGA’s exodus, plenty of real-life Democrats figure, too. Natalie’s estranged husband is bound up in that AI world, one of its denizens a thoughtful giant tortoise, living in deep-blue San Francisco with a daughter who describes herself as “a self-absorbed narcissistic teen. Who can pass for self-reliant.” Natalie and Asher reunite to take Logan across the two countries on a tour of potential college campuses—guess where the best schools are—where they see the damaging effects of national divorce, a warning that they might rethink their own relationship. The AI part of the story is a little undercooked and the political commentary none too subtle, but overall it’s an effective exercise in dystopian fiction with some nicely developed thriller elements in the mix.