Showdown

The fate of the world hangs in the balance when the ultimate biological weapon is unleashed in the stunning finale of a classic trilogy set in the Wild Cards universe created by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Game of Thrones—previously published as Wild Cards: Black Trump.

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.
 
The Card Sharks—a shadowy organization determined to wipe out the wild card virus at all costs—have been brought to light thanks to the efforts of nat investigator Hannah Davis and ace-politician-turned-joker Gregg Hartmann. 

But a cornered animal is a dangerous animal, and the Sharks 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 Quarter of old Jerusalem to the Republic of Free Vietnam—the viral bombs are ticking . . . and time is running out.

Book Three 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.