''Liege Killer'' is a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

novel by American writer

Christopher Hinz Christopher Hinz (born March 10, 1951) is an American writer best known for the Paratwa science fiction trilogy. Hinz has also written comic books for DC Comics and Marvel Comics. He won the Compton Crook Award in 1988 for his novel ''Liege-Killer' ...

. The book and its sequels ''Ash Ock'' and ''The Paratwa'' are set in human colonies in orbit around a desolated post-apocalyptic Earth. The antagonists of the books are the Paratwa, a new species resulting from experimentation on human embryos in the near future. They are a single consciousness occupying pairs of telepathically linked bodies. The Paratwa are highly skilled warriors but look like normal people; the only way to identify a Paratwa match is by inflicting a great deal of pain upon one of them, and observing the pain in the other. The books follow the activities of humans and Paratwa as these old enemies are reunited more than a century after the earth's apocalypse, during which humans had believed the Paratwa were extinct. The novel won the

Compton Crook Award The Compton Crook Award is presented to the best English language first novel of the year in the field of science fiction, fantasy, or horror by the members of the Baltimore Science Fiction Society at their annual science fiction convention, Baltic ...

in 1988. In 2013, ''Liege-Killer'' was adapted into a graphic novel, ''Binary'',Binary on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Binary-Christopher-Hinz/dp/1484862740/ref=cm_rdp_product also written by Chris Hinz, and illustrated by Jon Proctor.

Sequels

* ''Ash Ock'' (1989) * ''The Paratwa'' (1991) 1987 American novels 1987 science fiction novels Post-apocalyptic novels Debut science fiction novels 1987 debut novels {{1980s-sf-novel-stub