Delirium — Susan Kaye Quinn

What's your life worth on the open market? In this sexy, gritty future-noir, debt collectors take your life energy and give it to someone more "worthy"... all while paying the price with black marks on their souls.Lirium plays the part of the grim reaper well, with his dark trenchcoat and jackboots -- he's just in it for his cut, ten percent of the life energy he collects before he transfers it on to the high potentials, people who will make the world a better place with their work and their lives. That hit of life energy, a bottle of vodka, and a visit from one of Madam Anastazja's girls keep him alive, stable, and mostly sane... until he collects again. But when his recovery ritual is disrupted, he has to choose between doing an illegal hit for a girl whose story has more holes than his soul or facing the bottle alone -- a dark pit he's not sure he'll be able to climb out of again."Absolutely riveting!""Quinn has a way of writing heart-breaking characters.""You'll be holding your breath, looking over your shoulder, and begging for more."This is the first episode, 44 pages.Originally written as a serial, LIRIUM is the first season of Debt Collector series. There are five planned seasons, each from the perspective of a different debt collector. 2015 Top SELF-ebook in Library Journal