Thirteen

Carl Marsalis is a Thirteen, one of the genetically engineered supersoldiers made by a government program and bred for aggression. Once the public learned of the project, his kind were labelled a mutant threat and sent into exile on Mars. Carl got back to Earth anyway and made a living as a bounty hunter, until a sting put him in a Florida jail.

The Rim States offer him a deal. He must track down Allen Merrin, another Thirteen, who crash-landed on Earth and survived by eating his fellow passengers. Merrin has since gathered followers who believe he is the second coming, and he has vanished into a series of bizarre murders.

Carl works the case alongside Sevgi Ertekin, a detective, and Tom Norton, a PR specialist. As the three dig in, Carl learns that the killings are only the visible edge of something much larger.

This is a near-future thriller, also published under the title Black Man outside the US. It takes in genetic engineering, masculinity and the making of a monster, and it follows a hunter who belongs to the same engineered group as his target.