Warcross

When her father dies, Emika’s life changes drastically as she is forced into the foster care system and she gives up on life until she is inspired to pursue programming and computers. To pay off her father’s gambling debts, Emika takes a job as a bounty hunter to catch people gambling on the Warcross video game, but when she hacks into the opening game of the Warcross tournament, rather than have her arrested, the game’s owner sets her on her biggest bounty hunt yet. This fast-paced science fiction novel, suitable for grade 8-12, poses challenging questions about the price of freedom, whether violence can ever be condoned, how to know who to trust, and whether things are really what they seem.