REVIEW: The Warehouse by Rob Hart

3 out of 5 stars ★★★☆☆

Synopsis:

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.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This review is a bit overdue. My initial thoughts on this are that it felt real. A world in which “Amazon” dominates everything does not seem that far-fetched. In many ways, we’re already living it. I actually applied as a bookstore associate at Amazon after reading this for seasonal work and had to fill out a survey similar to the one described in the first chapters. I felt like I was being monitored based on more than just my answers. (Which they clearly didn’t care for since I didn’t hear from them! ha)

To the meat of the book, I was really frustrated. Zinnia only had her one objective and Paxton was kind of a wet blanket when he was with her. Their relationship could have led them to work together to help each other out, but really they just went the opposite direction at the end. I feel like they had similar objectives! I was waiting for them to work together!! Why didn’t they do this!

I’m going to post spoilers at the end of this review so I’ll sum it up here and you can leave the page if you don’t want to see them. The book was interesting, the city-like compounds of the Cloud warehouses (and their secrets) are what made me keep reading. And the fact that many of the scenarios Zinnia was encountering in the warehouse were based on real headlines (i.e. people dying on the floor, but you can’t stop to help because you’ll fall behind on your quota and get fired). I really struggled with liking Paxton and Zinnia both separately and together. I wanted more out of them. They seemed one-dimensional to me. Read this if you like dystopian sci-fi set in a not so distant future!

SPOILERS!!!!

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So at the end we realize that all the meat being served at the Cloud restaurants comes from human waste. Totally gross! And something I didn’t see coming, though I should have based on all the times the characters go to these restaurants and comment on how good the food is! So Zinnia has this information, but she is killed before she’s able to get it out! And Paxton doesn’t even know that she dies? What kind of justice is this! The information should have leaked and we would have had the satisfaction that she didn’t die for nothing! (She was a corporate spy hired–by the VP it turns out– to find holes in their system and any secret info.) And Paxton didn’t even get his revenge on the owner/CEO for ruining his business. When I finished reading, I felt very unfulfilled.