Escapology

by Ren Warom

Overview

SHOCK PAO is not just any Haunt—he’s the best. There isn’t a system that he can’t crack into, nothing he can’t steal for the right price. Outside the virtual world of the Slip, though, he’s a Fail—no degree, no job, no affiliations to protect him from angry ex-customers. Of which he has quite a few. So when his ex brings Shock a job, he accepts, little realizing that it will turn out to be his most impossible, illegal and insane assignment yet.
Amiga works for Twist Calhoun, one of the toughest crime lords in the Gung, as a Cleaner—assassin. When Shock’s war comes to her, she doesn’t have a choice: it’s her job to bring him to Twist, dead or alive—or it’ll be her head in a bag in Twist’s vault.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781785650918
Publisher:	Titan
Publication date:	06/14/2016
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 8.00(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Ren Warom lives in the West Midlands with her three children, innumerable cats, a very friendly corn snake, and far, far too many books. She haunts Twitter as @RenWarom, and can be found on her YouTube channel talking about mental health issues and, of course, books

Editorial Reviews

07/04/2016
Warom makes an impressive debut with this action-packed, post-apocalyptic, postmodern adventure, in which a skilled hacker attempts the ultimate digital heist. In the near future, massive land ships, remnants of a broken world, ply their trade across a global ocean, and the sprawling city of Foon Gung occupies the last patch of stable land in what used to be Asia. Shock Pao, a down-and-out "Haunt"—someone who can navigate the electronic realm known as the Slip without being seen—is pressed into service by a ruthless crime lord and winds up in the center of a society-shaking conflict involving gangs, assassins, and all-powerful AIs. The diverse characters and well-crafted setting breathe fresh life into the cyberpunk subgenre. Warom's language is dense, full of slang and complex character voices, but rewarding for its difficulty. "Curled up against the window like a squashed bug, Shock squints down at the tops of rain-swollen clouds, the plunging cliff-side drops of the 'scrapers, and half imagines he might be dying" is how readers meet the protagonist, who struggles with addiction and gender identity questions among many other concerns. The worldbuilding and narrative could be a little clearer and more straightforward, but readers will appreciate that this tale defiantly carves out its own identity. Agent: Jennifer Udden, Barry Goldblatt Literary. (June)

Publishers Weekly

"Warom makes an impressive debut with this action-packed, post-apocalyptic, postmodern adventure...The diverse characters and well-crafted setting breathe fresh life into the cyberpunk subgenre. Warom’s language is dense, full of slang and complex character voices, but rewarding for its difficulty....readers will appreciate that this tale defiantly carves out its own identity."
— Publishers Weekly

“Will keep you on the edge of your seat...every page offers new twists and turns” - Bio Gamer Girl 

“A flaming loop-the-loop rollercoaster with no brakes” - NPR

“Warom crafts an inventive world that upends familiar tropes, spinning a fast-moving plot that races from what threat to the next in breathless, laser-bright prose.” -  Barnes & Noble

"If you're in need of an addictive, fast-paced and immersive cyberpunk novel with thriller elements, you don't have to look elsewhere." -  Rising Shadow

"One of 2016's stand out debuts" - Barnes & Noble

“I recommend...that you read Escapology in the quietest setting possible. An isolation tank. A desert island. Swaddled in cotton wool in the basement of the British Library. You need to do this as a counterbalance to the heroic and possibly toxic amounts of adrenaline that reading it is likely to release." - Lit Reactor 

“I can’t recommend this book enough. It gets really weird, really fast…and that what makes it such a fun read.” - Nerdspan

“If you want some fast-paced, gritty and super imaginative cyberpunk, that's (ESCAPOLOGY) the one to look out for.” - Shelf Awareness

“science fiction as its finest”- Black Girl Nerds

From the Publisher