In this dystopian novel by Hillary Jordan (winner of the 2006 Bellwether Prize for Mudbound), a disease that causes sterility in women has swept across the country and a political party lead by evangelical megachurches has come to power. Meanwhile, the government has introduced a new kind of punishment called "chroming": a virus is injected into the condemned person, changing skin pigment to correspond to the severity of the crime, with red reserved for the most violent.
Hannah Payne is a young woman raised in a megachurch. Against her religious upbringing, she has an abortion, a procedure prohibited by the government. At her trial, she refuses to reveal who impregnated her or who performed the abortion, at the risk of adding years to her sentence. She is convicted and chromed red, changing her overnight from insider to outcast. The only option for most "chromes" is to try to get by in one of the violent slums until the end of their sentences. Through her connections, Hannah is able to gain entry to one of the few rehab centers. Unfortunately the center isn't what it appears to be, but it does contain Kayla, also a red chrome, who becomes a much-needed friend and companion in facing the extreme danger of the outside world.
Jordan's elegant prose and thrilling plot make for an engrossing read, while her well-structured examination of our Schadenfreude-hungry culture and the precarious position of women's rights within it make for a thought-provoking one. --Melissa Solberg, sales and marketing manager, Shelf Awareness