Edge of the Known World

A Novel

By: Sheri T. Joseph

Narrated by: Marnye Young

Alexandra Tashen is a brilliant student, adoring daughter, merry wit, and exuberant prankster. After a blissful childhood on a Texas ranch, she learns the truth: She is a refuse, an illegal refugee smuggled into the Allied Nations as an infant. Everyone from her birth region carries a harmless but detectable bit of viral DNA from a flu vaccine. If detected by the rapid genetic testing at security screens, Alex will be returned to the Federation and a likely death. Her adoptive father developed a gene therapy to mask her g-marker, but it is not fully effective. Every g-screen presents a nerve-racking one-in-ten chance of getting caught.

When her father goes missing, Alex abandons her cloistered academic life in San Francisco for a globe-trotting Commission in a desperate race to warn him of a trap that will destroy them both. As Alex dodges g-screens on her precarious and often hilarious adventure, a love triangle develops between her and two men: Eric Burton, a commanding and disgraced intelligence officer, and his blood brother, Strav Beki, a charismatic and dangerously unhinged diplomat. Betrayals mount and secrets unravel, building to the most confounding choices that people can face-choices between love, family loyalty, and moral obligation.

©2024 Sheri T. Joseph (P)2024 Tantor

Critic reviews

2025 IBPA Book Awards Gold Winner in Best New Voice: Fiction
2024 Chanticleer International Book Awards Winner in Global Thriller
2024 American Fiction Awards Winner in Best New Fiction
2024 American Fiction Awards Winner in Thriller: Political
2024 American Fiction Awards Winner in Thriller: Techno
2024 American Fiction Awards Winner in Science Fiction: General

“Author Sheri T. Joseph has crafted a riveting novel. . . . a brilliantly original concept that captures you right from the start.” —Readers’ Favorite, 5-star review

“In this smart, multi-layered debut, Joseph constructs a thoughtful dystopian near-future adventure complete with genetic screening, international thrills, playful wit, and a welcome touch of romance. . . . Throughout, Joseph’s vivid worldbuilding and her scarifying descriptions of an oppressive state never detract from the psychological drama of these convincing, complex characters.” —BookLife Reviews

“The skillful writing makes the book a worthy read. . . . A complicated dystopian political thriller enhanced by lively prose.” —Kirkus Reviews

Part dystopian thriller, part romance

I really enjoyed this! A properly ambitious novel with properly three-dimensional characters. You will fly through it.

Not for me

Disjointed story without a point. Suffered through to the end thinking it would come together sometime.