When the Sparrow Falls (Paperback original)

In the future, AI are everywhere - over half the human race lives online. But in the Caspian Republic, the last true human beings have made their stand; and now the repressive, one-party state is locked in perpetual cold war with the outside world.
Security Agent Nikolai South is given a seemingly mundane task; escorting a dead journalist's widow while she visits the Caspian Republic to identify her husband's remains. But Paulo Xirau was AI; and as Nikolai and Lily delve deeper into the circumstances surrounding Paulo's death, South must choose between his loyalty to his country and his conscience.