THE ALICE YU SERIES IN ORDER
The Alice Yu trilogy was written as a complete series:
1. The Paradise Factory
2. This Automatic Eden
3. The Genesis Engine
Each novel also works as a standalone story, so you can read them individually. For the best experience, I recommend following the full reading order below.
The free Jim Keen Starter Library adds four Alice Yu novellas that sit between the main novels, expanding the world, the violence, and the pressure around Alice’s journey.
The complete reading order is listed below, along with signups to get the free starter pack.
FREE READER LIBRARY BOOK 1:
New York, 2055. One wounded cop. One dangerous prisoner. One lawless zone that wants them dead.
NYPD Officer Alice Yu is used to hunting wanted criminals through the broken streets of future New York. She is a former Marine, a damaged survivor, and one of the few cops still willing to work a city where automation has gutted the economy and violence owns the streets.
Alice has also sworn never to take another life.
That promise shatters when a ruthless gang shoots her police Hopper out of the sky.
Crash-landed in a ruined Brooklyn district, Alice, her partner Mike, and their high-value prisoner are injured, exposed, and hunted by heavily armed killers. Backup is distant. The streets are hostile. Every route out is closing.
To save her partner and keep the prisoner alive, Alice must choose between the badge she still believes in and the violence she has spent years trying to bury.
In future New York, survival is not justice.
And loyalty may cost Alice Yu everything.
Pattern_Spec is a gritty cyberpunk police thriller and the introductory Alice Yu novella, set in a dystopian 2055 New York of flying police cars, lawless zones, artificial intelligence, and brutal street-level survival.
ALICE YU BOOK 1:
She’s a cop with a past. In a city broken by AI, one bad decision could cost her everything.
In 2055 New York, human labor is almost worthless, automation has hollowed out the city, and survival belongs to whoever still has power. Alice Yu is a former UN Marine turned NYPD officer, haunted by the war she survived and the guilt she cannot outrun.
When a brutal ambush leaves Alice close to death and her partner abducted by a ruthless crime boss, she faces an impossible choice: protect the badge that keeps her alive, or enter the forbidden Fourth Ward Territory to bring him back.
The Fourth Ward is a lawless zone the city would rather forget, ruled by cartels, abandoned by government, and filled with people the automated world has thrown away. As Alice follows her partner’s trail deeper inside, her injuries worsen, her PTSD resurfaces, and every step pulls her closer to the violence she has spent years trying to bury.
To save her partner, Alice will have to become the soldier she vowed to never be again.
The Paradise Factory is a dystopian cyberpunk crime thriller set in a near-future New York of AI control, mass unemployment, organized crime, and survival. Perfect for readers who like William Gibson, Richard K. Morgan, future noir, broken cities, and fast-paced sci-fi thrillers about technology, violence, and social collapse.
FREE READER LIBRARY BOOK 2:
New York, 2055: The clock is ticking on a man's life...
Sarah is torn between love and a dangerous lie. When she attempts an illegal biotech heist with her hacker crew, they’re ambushed in a police sting. On the run with one accomplice dead and her boyfriend wounded, she’s forced to search for a black-market answer before he bleeds out.
With the cops hot on their heels, Sarah tracks down a dubious informant for aid. But it’ll take a desperate deal with an insane half-human machine to save her lover’s life. And if they find out who she is, they’ll both be erased.
Can Sarah reprint the man she loves and keep her deadly secret from coming to light?
Contact Binary is a breathless second Alice Yu novella. If you like A.G. Riddle, Neal Asher and William Gibson, then you’ll love Jim Keen’s electrifying tale. Get Contact Binary to download the ultimate betrayal today!
ALICE YU BOOK 2:
In 2057 New York, human life can be copied, deleted, and replaced — and Alice Yu may be next.
Alice is an ex-NYPD cop with no badge, no future, and a past that refuses to stay buried. But when a murdered government witness turns out to be an illegal human copy, she sees one last chance to win back her life by helping the investigation.
Partnered with a mysterious FBI agent, Alice is pulled into a conspiracy built on artificial intelligence, human reprinting, and the promise of eternal life for the powerful few. After barely surviving an assassination attempt, she follows the trail from New York to Washington, D.C., where her new partner’s secrets may be as dangerous as the people hunting them.
The deeper Alice digs, the clearer the truth becomes: in a world where people can be copied, erased, and replaced, justice may already be obsolete.
Can Alice expose the conspiracy before she becomes its next disposable body?
This Automatic Eden is a dystopian cyberpunk thriller about artificial intelligence, illegal human copies, government conspiracy, and survival in 2057 New York. Perfect for readers who like William Gibson, Richard K. Morgan, and fast-paced sci-fi techno-thrillers with damaged heroes.
FREE READER LIBRARY BOOK 3:
For the very first time, see inside the world of 2050s New York, a society where losing your job is a death sentence...
The intense, gritty world-building of the Alice Yu series grew out of my twenty-year architectural career. Long before I started the books I had researched, designed and drawn each piece of equipment that appears in the books.
At first I just threw those designs away, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop thinking about them. What are the revolutionary drive systems for aerial cars and how do they work? What smell does a centrifuge gun make after firing? How hot does an AI run? All day I would sketch buildings for architects, all evening I would draw 2050s New York until my eyes hurt.
For years these sketches and character studies remained hidden away in scrapbooks and folders, but now, for the very first time, this book shows some of those rare, exclusive details. How do Hoppers work? Why was the NYPD firearm based on a 1970s Polaroid camera? Who is Charles Takamatsu, the man who destroyed the world?
All of those questions, and more, are answered in New York, 2055... Download your copy to discover the future!
ALICE YU BOOK 3:
Alice Yu saved New York once. Now her reprinted body is breaking down, the government is dead, and the next war will not be fought by humans alone.
In future New York, Alice is a reluctant symbol of survival in a city tearing itself apart. Her reprinted body is breaking down, her enemies are multiplying, and the fragile peace she fought for is already collapsing.
When she helps broker a truce between the NYPD and the city’s most powerful gang bosses, the meeting erupts into violence. To stop New York from sliding into open war, Alice joins forces with a secretive UN special agent and hunts the criminal mastermind determined to bring the city to its knees.
But the real threat is no longer only human.
A viral intelligence is spreading through the machine world, carrying fractured personalities, dangerous loyalties, and the first signs of a rebellion that could reshape the planet. As human power collapses and machine intelligence evolves, Alice must push her failing body past its limits to save a city that may already be lost.
Can Alice stop the next evolution of machine intelligence before her own clock runs out?
The Genesis Engine is a dystopian cyberpunk thriller of AI rebellion, viral intelligence, organized crime, political collapse, and survival in 2059 New York. If you like William Gibson, Richard K. Morgan, and fast-paced sci-fi techno-thrillers about artificial intelligence and social collapse, continue the Alice Yu series today.
FREE READER LIBRARY BOOK 4:
They made a murderous compromise. They overcame a lethal enemy. Now can they defeat death itself?
After reluctantly agreeing to join forces in order to defeat their mutual enemy, NYPD cop Alice Yu and the criminal mastermind Barlow face a new challenge. And the only person who can help is Alice’s old adversary: Mr. Bank.
If he agrees, that is, and if he can perform a surgery that has never been attempted before with obsolete equipment and skills years out of date. At least Mr. Bank has a friend he can call for help…
So their final journey begins. One way or another, it will end soon. But what will that end mean? And what will her final choices be? Will she be allowed to choose a new life even as a secret enemy hunts her down?
These Artificial Horizons is the fourth and final stunning novella in Jim Keen's thrilling Alice Yu series. Download These Artificial Horizons to discover this exhilarating new world today!
JOHN RISK BOOK 1:
United Nations A.I. Assassin John Risk is dispatched to Latin America to kill the rogue A.I. in charge the Suarez Inc. Drugs cartel. Things do not go as planned…
PRAISE FOR THE ALICE YU SERIES
“Gripping, thoughtful and fast paced, this is why we read science fiction! With excellent world-building, complex characters and interesting questions about humanity's future, this book will keep you turning the pages from the first word."— Matthew Goodwin, author of the 'Into Neon' science fiction series.
"A fantastic work that will delight both cyberpunk and general science fiction fans alike. The themes of machine autonomy, political conflict, and trust provide a backdrop to thrilling action scenes and strong characters..." — Mark Everglade, 'Cyberpunk Book Reviews & Interviews.'
"Escape from New York meets Cyberpunk! Instead of Snake we get Alice and she's no less badass. Perfect read for lovers of action-driven science fiction." — Anna Mocikat, author of the 'Behind Blue Eyes' science fiction series.
"An intense, captivating read. Deserves shelf space next to Gibson and Stephenson. Highly recommended!"— D.L. Young, author of the 'The Machine Killer' science fiction series.
"Jim Keen skillfully weaves real-life concerns about AI and automation together with a gripping crime thriller narrative"— Jon Richter, author of 'Auxiliary, London 2039.'