The Warehouse
A Novel
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4.0 • 113 Ratings
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
Cloud isn’t just a place to work. It’s a place to live. And when you’re here, you’ll never want to leave.
“A thrilling story of corporate espionage at the highest level . . . and a powerful cautionary tale about technology, runaway capitalism, and the nightmare world we are making for ourselves.”—Blake Crouch, New York Times bestselling author of Dark Matter
Film rights sold to Imagine Entertainment for director Ron Howard! • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Financial Times • Real Simple • Kirkus Reviews
Paxton never thought he’d be working for Cloud, the giant tech company that’s eaten much of the American economy. Much less that he’d be moving into one of the company’s sprawling live-work facilities.
But compared to what’s left outside, Cloud’s bland chainstore life of gleaming entertainment halls, open-plan offices, and vast warehouses…well, it doesn’t seem so bad. It’s more than anyone else is offering.
Zinnia never thought she’d be infiltrating Cloud. But now she’s undercover, inside the walls, risking it all to ferret out the company’s darkest secrets. And Paxton, with his ordinary little hopes and fears? He just might make the perfect pawn. If she can bear to sacrifice him.
As the truth about Cloud unfolds, Zinnia must gamble everything on a desperate scheme—one that risks both their lives, even as it forces Paxton to question everything about the world he’s so carefully assembled here.
Together, they’ll learn just how far the company will go…to make the world a better place.
Set in the confines of a corporate panopticon that’s at once brilliantly imagined and terrifyingly real, The Warehouse is a near-future thriller about what happens when Big Brother meets Big Business--and who will pay the ultimate price.
Praise for The Warehouse
“A fun, fast-paced read [that] walks a fine line between a near-future thriller and a smart satire . . . makes you wonder if we’re already too far into a disastrous future, or if there’s still some hope for humanity.”—NPR
“I loved The Warehouse, although and because it made my blood run cold. This is what our world could be by this time next year.”—S.J. Rozan, Edgar award-winning author of Paper Son
“An inventive, addictive, Crichton-esque, page-turning, near-future dystopian thriller.”—Paul Tremblay, Stoker award-winning author of A Head Full of Ghostsof Lock Every Door
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Imagine how much creepier a cautionary tale like 1984 might feel if the protagonist’s life was actually kinda nice? Employees of Cloud work—and live—under constant surveillance in comfortable warehouses that are way better than the deteriorating outside world. Corporate spy Zinnia is tasked with infiltrating the global tech behemoth, leading her to meet Paxton, a levelheaded security guard who’s starting to bristle at Cloud’s increasing restrictions. Part dystopian techno-thriller, part dark romance, The Warehouse is a perfect-for-this-moment morality tale about consumerism, corporate control, and personal freedom. It’s one of the most exciting and thought-provoking books we’ve read in ages.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
What if the totalitarian regime controlling people's lives was a mega-corporation rather than a fascist government? That's the conceit of this intelligent Orwellian thriller by Hart (the Ash McKenna series), who imagines an all-too-plausible near-future in which an Amazon-on-steroids company called Cloud dominates retail sales and the labor market. The story is told from three perspectives: multibillionaire Gibson Wells, the founder of Cloud; Paxton, a newly hired security employee at a MotherCloud facility, where he also lives; and Zinnia, a shipping worker and resident of the same facility. Wells, who's dying of cancer, presents Cloud's history, which includes taking over the FAA from the federal government to help expedite Cloud's drone deliveries. Paxton, whose business was bankrupted by Cloud's monopolistic practices, hopes for a meaningful relationship with Zinnia, who's actually on a corporate espionage assignment for an unidentified employer and looks to use Paxton to further her mission. Hart's detail-oriented worldbuilding, which credibly extrapolates from the Trump administration's antiregulatory agenda, makes this cautionary tale memorable and powerful. This promises to be Hart's breakout book.
Customer Reviews
A thoughtful page turner
This is one of the best books of any genre I’ve read in the last few years. It draws on the culture of several fixtures of the gig economy…Apple, Tesla, Amazon etc….and creates a utopian/dystopian dichotomy for the future. Utopian because of the thoughtful aspects of this world and dystopian because of its seedy and hypocritical underbelly. And the central hook is a mystery about what was really going on. I really could not put it down.
Half finished
The story draws you in and is fully fleshed out and engrossing but the halfway through the book it’s feels like the author either hit a wall or was in a rush to meet a deadline. So disappointing, this book had promise, but somewhere along the way the author was convinced that his book could become a series in my opinion and shortchanged himself and the readers. Too bad.
Almost interesting
Could not finish this book. Plot is too boring and predictable.
Here is the big reveal. Amazon and Apple like companies could go bad and abuse their market advantage.
So if you think that simple and obvious premise can keep you entertained for a whole book then this is fine.
But if instead you were hoping for some critical social commentary, bold nuisance of ideas, or plot driven by strong characters then well— nope. Not this book.
Characters are flat and cliche. Star character is an attractive woman that’s got it all— emotional control, physical prowess, and intellectual dominance— wow what an impiously cliche character type. And does this attractive woman end up also having a heart of gold? Surprise, she does!
I read this book due to recommendation by Washington Post. Either the post is employing idiots to churn out blanket recommendations or it’s been a bad year for the written art form. I am thinking maybe both.