UNDERGROUND AIRLINES offers a well-conceived and -imagined alternate present: what if the American Civil War hadn't happened? Slavery remains, and is very much protected by the US government, albeit in the "hard four" states. Prejudice remains across the United States, however.

The protagonist, Victor, is a formerly-escaped slave who now is forced to work for the US government as a bounty hunter - tracking and recapturing other escaped slaves. His latest case is proving very difficult, and Victor's convinced that he hasn't been told everything. He's an excellent protagonist, well-written, and an engaging guide to this reality.

UNDERGROUND AIRLINES is a sometimes difficult novel to read -- the conditions that the slaves in this alternate reality still live under are horrific, and to see it transposed on a more modern setting is particularly unsettling. Although, I think the author was clearly trying to offer an exaggerated allegory for continuing institutional racism in the United States (and elsewhere in the Western world).

Well-written and well-paced. This is the first novel by Winters that I've read, and it will certainly not be my last. Definitely recommended.

There was much to enjoy here, but I found I couldn't connect with it. I'd read more from this author in the future though.

Alternate history fiction is generally not my genre of choice. But the premise, that slavery was never eradicated in the United States, made this book too intriguing to pass up. And, in that respect, it did not disappoint. Describing future where the federal government allowed each state to decide the issue of slavery, two states opted to maintain the institution. And, like much of our economy, slavery became big business, as has chasing down runaway slaves.

Our hero is a reluctant slave hunter, unable to quit even if he wanted to. His interests, at least for now, have aligned with those of his corporate masters. Until the case he's been given is more than your usual runaway, his handlers not being honest with him, he finds himself in the middle of the Underground Airline, the result of the evolution of the Underground Railroad of the 1800's.

While I enjoyed the story and protagonist, what I enjoyed most was hypothesizing about how the institution of slavery was maintained, how a twenty-first century America looked, and the way the world interacted (or didn't) with a county that maintained human bondage and servitude. As with much of modern fiction, it could apply, or serve as a warning, to us today.