From the Kirkus-starred author of Friendship Games and The Compass Room, a Wartmann Universe story of an America on the brink. Detroit is unraveling. And America is right behind it. After decades of deindustrialization, economic decline, and rising income disparities, entire neighborhoods stand abandoned, police patrols cling to the gentrified downtown core, and the rest of the city is left to fend for itself. When the local power company routinely cuts electricity to thousands even amid a brutal winter, families turn to kerosene heaters and fires sweep the streets. The death of a beloved schoolteacher and her family ignites protests that spiral into open revolt. Thousands flee across the river to Windsor, Canada, sparking an international refugee crisis that exposes just how far Detroit's-and America's-decline has already gone. Amid the unrest, the Grand River Gees gang strikes at a rival: Fave Avery, a seasoned street boss whose nephew commands a battle-hardened crew of military veterans.

With his family organization under attack, Fave fights back-then spots an opening. If he can turn the coming U.S. Army deployment against the River Gees, the Avery Organization might not just survive, but come out stronger. As the Michigan National Guard falters, militias seize rural roads, and Washington sends in the 10th Mountain Division, Detroit becomes a war zone. At first, soldiers are welcomed as saviors. But in the city's shadows, Fave isn't the only one working an angle-powerful players far beyond Michigan's borders see a chance to turn local chaos into a global windfall. From gangland alleys to the White House Situation Room, Alter Road delivers a relentless portrait of a fracturing America in steep decline.

It is a stand-alone Wartmann Universe story where America's unraveling at home collides with crisis abroad, ending where the Kirkus-starred Friendship Games begins.