Zero Sum Game

If you had an intellectual superpower, like being able to do complex math in your head in an instant, how would you use it? This is the question that S.L. Huang answers in her sci-fi noir thriller Zero Sum Game. The protagonist of her novel is a teenage girl named Cas Russell. Her superpower is being able to do complex math in her head, and she uses it in some pretty dark ways. She specializes in retrieval. This means that she is contacted by someone who tasks her to retrieve some property; she then goes to perform the task, often without any moral reservations, which means that everything is on the table, including clearly illegal things such as robbery or even murder. In the book, Cas is approached by Rio with a job to retrieve a woman held hostage by a Colombian drug cartel. What seems like a straightforward mission for Cas quickly spirals out of control as she discovers that the hostage is hunted by other forces. Furthermore, Rio has an agenda of his own, which may jeopardize Cas’ mission. Now Cas must use her mathematical superpower to save herself and prevent a catastrophe.