Metal Fatigue is a 1996 science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 novel by Sean Williams. It is set in a world after nuclear war where the metropolis of Kennedy in the United States has become walled off in order to protect itself from the decline of the rest the country.

Background

Metal Fatigue was first published in Australia on 29 May 1996 by HarperCollins

HarperCollins

HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...

 in paperback

Paperback

Paperback, softback or softcover describe and refer to a book by the nature of its binding. The covers of such books are usually made of paper or paperboard, and are usually held together with glue rather than stitches or staples...

 format. In August 1999 Swift Publishers released it in hardback format in the United Kingdom. Metal Fatigue won the 1996 Aurealis Award

Aurealis Award

Aurealis Award for Excellence in Speculative Fiction is an annual literary award for Australian science fiction, fantasy and horror fiction. Only Australians are eligible for the award.-History:...

 for best science fiction novel

Aurealis Award for best science fiction novel

The Aurealis Awards are presented annually by the Australia-based Chimaera Publications and SpecFaction NSW to published works in order to "recognise the achievements of Australian science fiction, fantasy, horror writers"...

 and was a short-list nominee for the 1997 Ditmar Award

Ditmar Award

The Ditmar Award has been awarded annually since 1969 at the Australian National Science Fiction Convention to recognise achievement in Australian science fiction and science fiction fandom...

for best Australian long fiction.

Plot introduction

In the aftermath of a nuclear war, the former USA has become a disaster area. Determined to maintain a functioning modern city, the citizens of Kennedy have walled themselves off from the rest of the country. Forty years after the end of the war, Kennedy is in a critical state, with technologies failing and repairs increasingly inadequate. Kennedy is invited to join the emergent Re-United States of America (RUSA). But some people in Kennedy oppose re-assimilation, and there is a wave of politically motivated crime. As the deadline for reunification approaches, Phil Roads, assigned to investigate the assassinations and data thefts, faces increasing threat not only from the opposing forces, but from his own secret past.