84K

Claire North

May 2018 · Sold by Orbit

About this eBook

A powerful dystopian vision of a world where money reigns supreme, from a World Fantasy Award-winning author.

"An extraordinary novel that stands with the best of dystopian fiction, with dashes of The Handmaid's Tale." -- -Cory Doctorow

The penalty for Dani Cumali's murder: $84,000.

Theo works in the Criminal Audit Office. He assesses each crime that crosses his desk and makes sure the correct debt to society is paid in full.

These days, there's no need to go to prison -- provided that you can afford to pay the penalty for the crime you've committed. If you're rich enough, you can get away with murder.

But Dani's murder is different. When Theo finds her lifeless body, and a hired killer standing over her and calmly calling the police to confess, he can't let her death become just an entry on a balance sheet.

Someone is responsible. And Theo is going to find them and make them pay.

Perfect for fans of 1984 and Never Let Me Go, Claire North's moving and unnerving new novel will resonate with readers around the world.

Ratings and reviews

The characters in this book just draw you in. All the time you see how broken they are, but how there might just be some hidden strength that they can draw on. The narrative is like a stream of consciousness, flitting between one brain and another. And because if this the story is never slow, even when things are drifting along the canal. There is the whole inside of these people's heads to keep up with. And just when you wonder how two strangers are going to avoid a confrontation, a good cuppa sorts it out. But that cuppa can't sort out the social chaos that it is all around. The culmination of austerity and privatisation leading to insular company towns, privately sponsored social security benefits and mental collapse. Apocalypse without a bomb. It's just that kind of book.

The awkward poetry of this novel is spectacular. The broken rhythms, the decapitated thoughts. The multiple protagonists. Magic realism turned surreal, then back again. I wish I could write like this. Thanks for this, Claire.

A wonderful premise in a world that, in some horrific ways, parallels are own. The unfinished sentences are a deal breaker, though. The writing style was downright infuriating.

About the author

Claire North is a pseudonym for Catherine Webb, a Carnegie Medal-nominated author whose first book was written when she was just fourteen years old. She went on to write several other novels in various genres, before publishing her first major work as Claire North, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, in 2014. It was a critically acclaimed success, receiving rave reviews and an Audie nomination, and was included in the Washington Post's Best Books of the Year list. Her next novel, Touch, was also in the Washington Post's Best Books of the Year, in 2015. Catherine currently works as a theatre lighting designer and is a fan of big cities, urban magic, Thai food and graffiti-spotting. She lives in London.