Marked Cards

An investigator teams up with an unexpected ally to expose a sinister organization in the gripping second book of a classic trilogy set in the Wild Cards universe created by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Game of Thrones.

Now featuring a stunning new cover!

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.

Nat investigator Hannah Davis has discovered the shadowy group of powerful figures that has orchestrated countless attacks on jokers since the wild card virus was first discovered. The Card Sharks have one goal: to purge the world of everyone who holds the virus.

With the help of Gregg Hartmann—once a puppeteering ace politician but now a joker himself—Hannah and her ragtag crew of joker activists must work to expose the leaders of the conspiracy before their plans can come to fruition. But the Card Sharks have a few tricks up their sleeve—and if Hannah and Gregg don’t act quickly, every wild carder in the world could pay the price.

Book Two of the Card Shark Triad
CARD SHARKS • MARKED CARDS • SHOWDOWN

George R. R. Martin is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of many novels, including those of the acclaimed series A Song of Ice and Fire—A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows, and A Dance with Dragons—as well as related works such as Fire & Blood, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, The World of Ice & Fire, and Rise of the Dragon (the last two with Elio M. García, Jr., and Linda Antonsson). Other novels and collections include Tuf Voyaging, Fevre Dream, The Armageddon Rag, Dying of the Light, Windhaven (with Lisa Tuttle), and Dreamsongs Volumes I and II. As a writer-producer, he has worked on The Twilight Zone, Beauty and the Beast, and various feature films and pilots that were never made. He lives with his lovely wife, Parris, in Santa Fe, New Mexico.