This is “kind of a story” that follows Anthony Griffin, a fake name so as to protect his identity, who is the boy next door.
Anthony lives in a world where you might “punch something into your deck,” or people might be “plugged into the Drop” via a visor, or you might push “a hologram chip across the table” instead of a business card.
He lives in the Debtbelt where “once your credit’s gone there’s no way back. You’re toast.” This is because of the Betta. “Short-selling, junking, gold farming, black boxing, risk-rolling – the Betta got a finger in every pie.” Basically “you’ve got to keep sweet with the Betta because they are the power.”
Except Anthony’s girlfriend didn’t keep sweet with them and has ended up dead because of them, and it is eating up at Anthony as he tries to discover what happened, all at the expense of his own future, like his exams which he walks out on. And all he’s got to go on is a voice.
So that is the story right there. And the book is Anthony’s narrative of the story. It took me a while to get into it because of his voice with all it's chattiness – “I mean, why do you think, not for even one second, do I ever, ever shut up?” – leading to diversions about brains evolving from animals etc. But the story is none-the-less gripping once it gets going.
Older teens should enjoy.
(I got this book through Amazon Vine. It is listed HERE.)
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