Book Details:
Author: Miles Joyner
Release Date: 09/21/2026
Series: Bazaar Series (Book 2)
Genre: Crime, Technothriller
Format: E-book
Pages: 271 pages
Publisher: World Castle Publishing, LLC
Blurb:
An act of domestic terrorism during a cultural parade in downtown D.C. inflicts multiple casualties, including the life of a young Congressman, and law enforcement agencies are quick to conclude it was carried out by a mentally ill lone wolf manipulated by a chatbot.
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Executive protection specialist Yemi Uzunma survives the attack and suspects it may be connected to an online prediction market widely thought to have been shut down called the Bazaar. He launches his own investigation into a mysterious, ideologically motivated assassination broker not only for the safety of his CEO sister’s clientele at Raptor Security but also for the preservation of order in a region facing a sudden spike in violence directed toward the power elite who call it home.
Shifta is the second book in the Bazaar series of novels that follows the security contractor Raptor as it deals with the ramifications the prediction market has on the political celebrities of the capital region.
Review
Shifta by Miles Joyner is a near-future political technothriller that combines cyberterrorism, private security, artificial intelligence and the dangerous gamification of political violence. Set primarily across Washington, D.C., and Maryland, the novel follows Yemi Uzunma and the Executive Protection Team of Raptor Security as they confront the resurgence of the Bazaar, an online assassination market where human lives are reduced to predictions, wagers and potential payouts. When the mysterious Nightjar begins using increasingly sophisticated methods to target politicians and manipulate the public, Raptor finds itself fighting an enemy that may be less a single person than an idea spreading uncontrollably across the internet.
The strongest aspect of the book is how unsettlingly plausible its central premise feels. Author Joyner understands that technology does not create human cruelty so much as make it faster, more profitable and easier to perform from a distance. AI companions, predictive markets, cryptocurrency, manipulated livestreams, invasive surveillance and weaponised drones are incorporated into the plot without making the novel feel like a catalogue of futuristic inventions. The most memorable sequences, including an assassination concealed within a public celebration, a terrifying hostage broadcast and an attack involving armed drones, are cinematic, tightly imagined and genuinely disturbing. Yet the violence is not present merely for spectacle; it consistently returns us to the question of what happens when outrage becomes entertainment and murder becomes participatory content.
Yemi anchors the novel particularly well. He is capable, perceptive and frequently formidable, but his past and his determination to remain politically detached complicate the familiar action-hero mould. His interactions with Nick, Karen, Jasper, Lyle and Terry give Raptor the texture of an actual team rather than a collection of interchangeable operatives. Nick’s arc is especially affecting, revealing the psychological cost of repeatedly surviving violence while continuing to insist that he belongs in the field. Joyner also gives considerable attention to cultural identity, immigration, race, masculinity, loyalty and political disillusionment. The title itself becomes increasingly meaningful: depending on who is speaking, a shifta may be a bandit, an insurgent, a revolutionary or a freedom fighter. That uncertainty lies at the heart of a story in which nearly everyone believes their own violence—or their refusal to engage with politics—is justified.
The novel is ambitious, although its scale occasionally works against its momentum. Its large cast and frequent shifts between security operations, journalists, politicians, prisoners and emerging antagonists can require considerable reorientation, particularly during the first half. Certain details concerning geography, professional histories and political or technological systems are explained more fully than the immediate scene demands, while some ideological exchanges reiterate arguments already evident through the action. A slightly leaner narrative, with fewer explanatory passages and more trust placed in the reader to interpret the political tensions, would make the suspense even sharper. The book also draws substantially upon relationships and events that precede its opening, so readers unfamiliar with Bazaar may occasionally feel they have entered an already unfolding conflict.
Nevertheless, Shifta is an intelligent, visceral and strikingly contemporary thriller that offers far more than gunfights and cyber intrigue. Its most chilling suggestion is that Nightjar cannot be defeated simply by identifying the person behind a mask, because the social conditions that created the movement remain intact, and anyone persuasive enough can inherit that identity. Readers who enjoy morally complex political thrillers, ensemble action narratives and speculative fiction rooted uncomfortably close to the present will find much to admire here. Joyner leaves us with a frightening question: when technology allows everyone to participate in political violence, does eliminating one revolutionary, or one criminal, actually change anything?
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