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Synopsis (from Goodreads):
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.
Review:
With Amazon "Prime Day" last month, the company, and its growing influence in America, has been something to think about. The Warehouse, by Rob Hart, illustrates everyone's fears about a mega-corporation wielding unchecked power over the workforce, consumers, and society. This book is thrilling, not just due to an addictive tale of corporate espionage, but because many of the elements are already happening in real life. This book grabbed my attention and didn't let go until the exciting finish.
What I Liked:
Setting:The story is set in America in the not so distant future. The company known as "The Cloud" (a fictionalized Amazon) rises in influence after a terrible Black Friday incident makes most people afraid to shop in brick & mortar stores.
What I enjoyed most about the set up for this book is that much of how The Cloud does business is eerily similar to how a certain company operates. But it's taken to a whole other level of control. From The Cloud's hiring practices, to how it gobbles up small companies, this book understands all the small ways that The Cloud influences society to the point where they dominate everything.
Characters:
The story follows Paxton, a down-trodden inventor who lost his company when The Cloud stole his product idea. He gets it in his head that he will work for The Cloud and then confront the company's founder, Gibson Wells. But once he starts working for The Cloud, he starts to forget why he was so angry. Working at The Cloud is easy. It's simple. He doesn't need to think for himself. He just needs to follow the rules without question.
Zennia is a new employee at The Cloud, too. But her motivation for working there is more nefarious. In a world of high-stakes business, corporate espionage can be, literally, cut-throat.
The story also shows the point of view of the company's founder, Gibson Wells. One can understand how his vision for the world could be easy to follow. He is both brilliant in his leadership and clueless about how his company operates. Or is he...?
Story:
The novel is a classic fish out of water story with Paxton and Zennia learning how this world operates. Paxton slowly makes compromises that accumulate to a point where he actually enjoys working at The Cloud. Zennia also starts to accept all the small things that make working for The Cloud so dehumanizing. It's fascinating how all these small alterations in what we are willing to accept for safety and convenience add up to a situation that is so familiar and so scary.
Rating:
Release Date: August 20th, 2019
Author: Rob Hart
Publisher: Crown Books
Genre: Thriller/Speculative Fiction
Page Length: 368 Pages
Source: NetGalley
Format: E-Book
Recommendation: An exciting and frightening book! Read it before they release the movie (seriously, I think production has already started).
