Booklist Reviews
Alderman follows her global, breakthrough hit, The Power (2017), with a high-tech drama involving an eclectic group of characters, including a survivalist influencer, the daughter of a cult leader, and three tech moguls as the world undergoes a drastic change. Lai Zhen, famous for her savvy survivalist instruction videos, is captivated when she meets Martha Einkorn, who fled her father's cult and eventually became the personal assistant to a tech guru whose social media network revolutionized the way people communicate with each other. Despite their chemistry and several passionate nights together, Martha ghosts Zhen, or at least that's what Zhen assumes until she finds herself targeted by an assassin from Martha's father's cult, and her life is saved by AUGR, a program Martha secretly installed on her phone. Zhen goes underground and resolves to track Martha down, something that proves easier said than done. Massively ambitious in scope, Alderman's latest novel takes some wild turns as it tackles themes as heady as wealth inequality, social media manipulation, technological advancements, and human nature itself, managing to be both critical and hopeful in equal measure.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Alderman's fans and readers who relish provocative, headline-hot adventures will be ready to pounce. Copyright 2023 Booklist Reviews.
Library Journal Reviews
Having fled her father's cult in remote Oregon, Martha Einkorn now works for a power-hungry social media mogul whose companies design things like private weather and covert weaponry. Meanwhile, Lai Zhen, an internet survivalist in Singapore, finds instructions for escaping an assassin mysteriously popping up on her phone. Both women will soon be involved in saving the world. Following the multi-best-booked, Bailey's-winning
Publishers Weekly Reviews
In the kinetic latest from bestseller Alderman (