The Warehouse
Ratings25
Average rating4.1
15
Ratings25
Average rating4.1
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
Reviews with the most likes.
See my full thoughts here: https://youtu.be/3VkSYZmFI6c
I found this book very similar to The Circle by Dave Eggers in a good way. Solid 4 stars
I liked this book, but I wasn't satisfied with the ending. There were loose ends. Is there supposed to be a sequel someday?
Pros: interesting characters, fast paced, thought-provoking
Cons:
Gibson Wells, founder of the Cloud tech empire that dominates the US economy, is dying. After Cloud puts Paxton's business under, he applies to work at one of their MotherCloud facilities, where people work and live. He expects this to be a temporary gig, to earn enough money so he can be his own boss again. Zinnia has been hired to infiltrate a Cloud facility and steal proprietary information.
Their paths collide inside the company in a novel that explores how far corporate America will go to ‘make the world a better place'.
The book takes place during the slow economic and environmental collapse of America. The world is not as apocalyptic as Octavia Butler's The Parable of the Sower, but it's getting there. With fewer and fewer options, more people are opting to work for Cloud, which has both caused many of the problems mentioned in the book even as it tries to (claims to) make things better.
At the start of the book I felt sympathy for Wells, but as I learned more about him, and saw the predatory nature behind his smiles and the abusive personality behind his policies I started to despise him. Though Zinnia is also manipulative I found I still liked her at the end of the book. She's feisty and smart and I wanted her to be happy. I thought she and Paxton made a good couple and hoped they'd stay together, despite some of her choices towards the end. Paxton was a mixed bag. I liked him but he was easily manipulated by everyone around him, which made me feel less sympathetic towards him.
The book was surprisingly fast paced. Adult dystopian fiction generally drags a bit due to excess worldbuilding or political sentiment. The focus here really is on the characters so it was a quick read - and hard to put down towards the end.
That's not to say there weren't some poignant moments where you can see how our own world is heading in this direction. The company is obviously modelled after Amazon and Walmart and their practices of forcing producers to cut costs so they can sell products a the lowest price possible. It does end of a slightly more positive note than other dystopian books as well.
This is definitely worth checking out.
The Warehouse is a chilling and thrilling novel about big business and the plight of humanity trying to survive in the consumer age. With clear allusions to real companies this book paints a picture of what America and the world might have to look forward too if consumption remains unchecked. That is, of course, overlooking the fact that some aspects of this book are already reality for workers around the world today. This is one of the most plausible dystopian books I've read, and also one of the most enjoyable. The book is thrilling, filled with suspense and intrigue, and had me reading late into the night. It also left me questioning my purchasing decisions and wondering how I fit into the patterns of production, consumption, and economic injustice described in the book. It left me in a strange place of wanting to change my habits to ensure this nightmare world does not come to pass, but also not wanting to do anything. I found myself strongly identifying with some of the characters in the book as they struggled with some of these same questions. Perhaps more than anything, Rob Hart has offered a glimpse of the experience of being a consumer in the contemporary world. A view that is not a symbolic, but rather is accurate. The conflicting appeal of greed, convenience, morality, and the reasoning we follow in willingly allowing big business to take over more and more of our lives and economy. This is a story of how people live to work, instead of working to live. I don't know how I feel about the ideas contained in this book, but I know it is the most compelling indictment of wealth inequality and unrestrained capitalism I have ever read. It has certainly given me a lot to think about. Overall, I read this book as a work of fiction that examines how present dangers could lead to a world like the one described in this book. A world not very unlike our own. Highly recommend.
