Loved this book! The writing was suspenseful and thrilling. Couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen. Would like to read another Rob Hart book.

When jobs and housing are scarce, The Cloud provides workers a job and a place to live. All you have to do is give up your autonomy. Paxton has nowhere else to turn after his business goes bankrupt. Zinnia is not who she appears to be. Part techno-thriller and part dystopian warning, The Warehouse will shock and terrify readers. Recommended for fans of Blake Crouch.

If your going to read a book on the implications of Amazon, this is it. Chilling, interesting and thought provoking of the premise of taking the impact of amazon to its logical conclusion. Should be read by everyone.

Grocery pickup, online shopping, and delivery droids seem so harmless... right? In The Warehouse, a world of nearly unthinkable capitalism is explored. Are you really anything if you aren’t part of the Cloud? If the insane capitalism wasn’t mind boggling enough, the escapades happening inside MotherCloud get more and more intense with every page.

If you’re a fan of thrillers or sci-fi, and want to dive into a terrifying, yet intriguing world, The Warehouse definitely needs to be added to your reading list.

The scariest part of The Warehouse by Rob Hart is how it paints a nightmarish future similar to the brilliance of Black Mirror. There is enough logic in the madness of why Cloud exists and why a CEO can convince him/herself and their stockholders that any decision can be spun to seem like it's helping people when the reality of it is that the main decision is money and power. The Warehouse follow the paths of Zennia and Paxton. In Zennia, we follow a new Cloud hire who is also a hired spy with a plan. In Paxton, we follow another new hire who has a grudge against his new employer. Both characters offer compelling journeys as they navigate through Cloud. Hart does a fantastic job illustration the futuristic and hellish work conditions at Cloud. I felt like the plot could have moved along a bit quicker in the beginning but other than that, I found this thrilling story to be a great read and I highly recommend it.

After the Black Friday Massacres, Americans were afraid to go shopping. Luckily, Cloud was there to save the day. With its vast warehouses and nigh-instantaneous drone deliveries, Cloud easily replaced old-fashioned commerce. And when this new business paradigm drove all smaller companies out of business, gutting towns and dreams, Cloud was there to offer jobs with decent (scrip) wages, (microscopic on-site) housing, and medical care (you won't use if you know what's good for you). Little do they suspect that their newest employee is actually a corporate spy. Both thrilling and horrifyingly plausible.

Okay, I have to admit, I enjoyed this for a very strange reason. I really enjoy reading about processes and how things work- especially in dystopian societies. If Margaret Atwood wrote a rule book for handmaids that explained how everything worked, I would totally read that.

In this book, large chunks are dedicated to explaining how things work inside the Cloud (a company that is more or less based on Amazon- when you know, Amazon finally succeeds in world domination). The author goes into explaining all of the shirt colors, what they do, how everyone lives, eats, etc. and I thoroughly enjoyed all of this world building explanation. Overall, the characters and plot were also good.

I will also admit to pausing and ordering a couple of things from Amazon that I randomly remembered needing. Luckily though, I don't eat meat, but I did just have a Beyond burger and after reading this I am slightly less confidant in that decision 😂

THE WAREHOUSE, by Rob Hart, has the unique quality of being a satire/thriller. Cloud is a giant tech company in the future that has become so huge that it not only has it's own culture, but when governmental agencies have slowed it's progress, like for instance the FAA wanted to regulate drone delivery use from Cloud, Cloud found a way to take it over and make the FAA into what it needs. Paxton is a lost soul who is hoping to find purpose in his life by starting anew at Cloud. Zinnia has joined the Cloud family under false pretenses and she has a secret agenda. Paxton and Zinnia cross paths and develop a relationship as they both settle into Cloud, truths float to the surface and Zinnia's agenda reveals itself.
Hart creates a world that is close to being taken over by a corporation, Cloud. Hart's vision of this company comically mirrors conventions that real world companies use like color coated uniforms to define job type, a campus that sounds like a futuristic utopia that fosters happiness and contentment while hiding real humanity, and my favorite part is that Cloud doesn't want to act like big brother and put cameras everywhere so that people feel watched, but each employee has a tracker they must always wear on their wrist, otherwise the Cloud authorities will be notified of their insubordinance. The reader is doled out new fun tidbits about Cloud throughout the book, which couples nicely with the plot of Paxton and Zinnia. Really cool and intelligent action and suspense sequences are throughout the book and there is a truly exciting finish to the story.
Maybe our world is heading towards Rob Hart's vision in THE WAREHOUSE and this book forces the reader to consider what the future holds. I don't think Hart is convinced if his future is definitely good or bad and he does a good job of weighing the pros and cons. A mind-bending fun read!

Convenience is not the ultimate nirvana. Rob Hart immerses the reader into a dystopian future where an Amazon-like company, known as The Cloud, is virtually in a position to take over all the functions of society..Consumers no longer feel the necessity to venture out of their house ... The Cloud's Warehouse can supply anything they could possibly want with a simple ordering click. However, the apparent benefits come with a high price ! The underlying dilemma is the true nature of this supposed Utopian workplace .... the employees are overworked and underpaid, and pushed behind reasonable expectations.
The narrative revolves around two new reluctant employees. Zinnia, the bronze beautiful corporate spy and Paxton , the disgruntled entrepreneur and former prison guard. Paxton has an axe to grind ... The Cloud squashed his business by demanding an ever expanding discount to sell his inventive product.. Zinnia has been sent to infiltrate the companies security to "find dirt" to bring The Cloud down.. Although their interests are dissimilar their lives intersect and an unexpected relationship develops.
Gibson, the inventor of The Cloud is dying and is attempting to visit as many of his facilities as possible before he succumbs to Cancer. The tension and mystery ratchets up as the three main protagonists find themselves converging in the same place with unexpected results.
Thanks to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for providing an Uncorrected Proof in exchange for an honest review.

My thanks to Crown Publishing, and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.
There are moments when I really appreciate Netgalley, and this is one of them. This isn't a book that I would have spent money on, and if I had, then I probably still wouldn't have read it! I knew from the get go how this book would be, and also the end.
Yep! I'm one of those crazy folk who prefers locally owned. I don't shop boxstores, and except for e-books and my kindle device, I very seldom shop Amazon! Like maybe, once or twice a decade! That's it.
I started reading this book, and I got to the part where it stated that the Cloud didn't pay in money. Only credits. Everything you NEEDED could only be bought through the Cloud. These are employees. They work 10 to 12 hour days, 7 days a week. Of course, no unions. Well, anyone who knows me, knows that I'm slightly pissed off now! I've turned down promotions because I was expected to work more than 40 hours. Money is awesome. Too much time spent making that kind of money is not. At least for me! I've made a lot of money, and tiny amounts of money. I've learned to adjust! Crikey! So, living in this environment means I'm now going to have to "thermite" you! Guns, knives and other stuff? Psst! Nope. J.K! Maybe! I like thermite! I've never seen it, but I know how to make it, because....books! The thing is that this book is dystopian. From the first chapter, to the last, it screams "DYSTOPIAN." I love most Apocalyptic fiction, but dystopian makes me nauseous.
From the time my favorite bookstores and funky little local shops started closing down. To the time I was allowed to interview and hire at the drugstore where I worked, and I kept hearing things about Wal-Mart especially, but many other home and office stores too! I knew that I couldn't support those wealthy, who couldn't, nay, wouldn't even give good health insurance to their employees!
The first half of the book, I keep singing "in the back of my head," Tennessee Ernie Ford's song "16 Ton's." I know most people are way to young to remember the song, hell, I almost am too! Yet, the sentiment has always stuck with me.
You load 16 tons, whattaya get? Another older and deeper in debt. Saint. Peter don't ya' call me, cuz I can't go....I owe my soul to the company store...Chilling. Look up the history of what it was like before. Down with big business. Politicos with deep pockets. Also, what the hecks up with these big co. tax cuts? My squat hairy man received no refund this year. He seldom received much, but this year he did have to pay! So happy that the rich are paying their fair share! "That's sarcasm, b.t.w." Most of my Goodreads friends recognize sarcasm, but I've noticed lately that somehow ignoramuses's have taken sarcasm literally. Hey, I'm not saying your an idjit. But, yes, I'm saying, you are an effing idjit!
This book just says to me, what has always been obvious. Buy locally owned. We here in my town, no longer have bookstores. No BOOKSTORE. Used? Yes. A fresh smelling bookstore? Sadly, no. I'd walk into Hastings every Tuesday morning. New release day! I always thought it smelled of puppy breath, until I realized it was freshly brewed coffee! I am not a coffee drinker! Tea, yes! Coffee? Coffee makes.me high as a kite! It took me over a year to realize that fresh coffee smelled like puppy breath!
Wowser! So, rambling on! I guess this is my way of saying that I received exactly what I expected from this book. I knew what it was based on. I also got the exact horror of it. There were no big surprises. It's dystopian. There are never any happy endings. I of course always wish for more. But, this is the way of the world.
Still, this was a very readable book. I put other books aside, just to read this.
If course, it will remind you of Amazon and all internet stuff. I'm so glad that all this technological crap wasn't around in the late 70's and especially the 80's! Whew! I dodged a bullet!

The Warehouse opines a rather believable future for America (and the rest of us). Thanks to #NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read "The Warehouse" by Rob Hart, in return for a fair review.

What if Amazon took over the world? That's sort of the premise of Rob Hart's new book, The Warehouse. It's a dystopian future for America and the world, where no one goes out to shop any more (maybe not for any reason at all) and Cloud warehouses supply everything that one could want - all you have to do is order it. After the Black Friday Massacres (we're not given a lot of background on them, but you can imagine: after that, Cloud no longer sells firearms).

The story in the main follows two new employees of a "MotherCloud' warehouse - Zinnia (although that's not her real name) and Paxton. She is a corporate spy and he is a disgruntled entrepreneur and former prison guard. His big invention was co-opted by Cloud when they insisted on deeper and deeper discounts on product; she's been sent to Cloud with a nefarious mission. Of course, their lives intersect and we get to follow them as they live and work at Cloud - oh yes, Cloud employees all live and work in the enormous warehouses.

At the same time, the inventor of Cloud (a Jeff Bezos-type of character) is dying, and is on a tour of as many facilities as possible before turning over the reins. But there's a traitor in his midst, and he or she has been giving orders to Zinnia, culminating with a planned disaster and possible assassination.

This is an interesting and easy read, and gives one pause to think. Highly recommended.

This book seems more like a dystopian than mystery/thriller as described. I just see our society heading in the direction of The Warehouse! AND, it creeped me out!!!!

My thanks to Netgalley and Crown Publishing for this advanced readers copy. The release date is set for August 2019.

A corporate thriller set in the not too distant future (or it could be going on now) in a world that has seen upheaval and a giant retail site has taken over lives where you can order anything, it will get to you just as fast and in a nation of high unemployment the owner is seen as almost a God. That company is called the Cloud. The problem is the Cloud's employees are overworked, underpaid and are being psychologically pushed to the limit to perform faster and better or get the ax. Someone needs to get into the really tight security and put a bug in the system that could take it all down. The story is really scary because although futuristic this particular future feels way to close to being a reality. Smart, scary and an interesting look at corporate espionage this will make you think twice before hitting the purchase button on that giant online store. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.

The Warehouse (August 2019)
By Rob Hart
Crown Publishers, 368 pages
★★★★

Remember how we were told the movie The Circle wasn’t about Google, though it was? Rob Hart’s new novel The Warehouse isn’t about Amazon, but of course it is–with a bit of Apple mashed into the batter. Picture a not-so-distant future in which climate change has drowned the coastline, blazing sun has parched much of the land, water and food are in short supply, economic downturn has produced high unemployment rates, and gun violence and marauding gangs plague the cities. (How sad that it takes so little imagination to conjure such scenarios.)

Amidst this bleak landscape stands a beacon, Cloud, a company that’s also a way of life. Those who secure employment at Cloud leave the outside world behind and move onto a Cloud campus where they work, eat, play, and bed in a carbon-neutral climate-controlled environment. Cloud uses its army of drones and driverless trucks to provide its residents and the outside world with all the material goods it demands. Yeah, like I said: Amazon/not Amazon.

To those on the outside and many on the inside, Cloud is Utopia. Its founder, Gibson Wells, appears a benefactor. He’s the star of his own videocasts, which play incessantly inside the campus, even when you’re enjoying a yummy Cloud Burger, touted by all as the best burger ever. Think of Wells as possessing the folksiness of Walmart founder Sam Walton, the omnipresence of 1984’s Big Brother, the business acumen of Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, and the tech savvy of Apple’s Steve Jobs. Think especially of Jobs, as “Gib” is dying of pancreatic cancer, which not coincidentally is what killed Jobs. You’ll think of Jobs again when you consider that every employee of Cloud wears a CloudBand on their wrist, which monitors work productivity, keeps track of earned credits in this moneyless enclave, reminds each employee of when to wake up, and is the key in and out of cell-like dorm rooms. You need your CloudBand even to use the bathroom. But it’s okay, because Gib assures everyone he’s trying to improve the world through Cloud, and that things are way better there than on the outside. He’s probably right about the latter.

As you might expect, Utopia has some holes in its fabric. It is highly stratified, which one can tell by the color of the shirt one wears: red for the “pickers and placers” that work in the warehouse preparing goods for shipment, green for food and cleaning service personnel, yellow for customer service representatives, brown for tech support, blue for security, and white for managers. The reds are the lowest on the food chain; they are little more than flesh-and-blood robots who rush pell-mell to scale warehouse racks, grab a product, and run it to a conveyor belt to be shipped to customers. Missing quotas is not to be taken lightly, as it could send you back outside.

Oddly, red is the shirt Paxton hoped to secure. He worked as a prison guard on the outside after his invention of the Perfect Egg was stolen by Cloud and wrecked his business. So, of course, he finishes orientation and finds blue security shirts in his room. Another new recruit, Zinnia, hopes for brown shirts, but gets a picker’s red instead. Her official story is that she had been a teacher in Detroit until education went entirely online and a single teacher could serve millions. That’s her cover; she’s actually a corporate spy trying to find Cloud’s vulnerabilities.

The Warehouse is a pas de trois between Gib, Paxton, and Zinnia. The book is a pastiche of various books, movies, and ideas. Cloud’s control over workers owes similarities to efficiency theorist Frederick Winslow Taylor as filtered through Charlie Chaplin in Modern Times, and a careful reader will find echoes of everything from 1984, Animal Farm, and Lord of the Flies to Soylent Green, Mad Max, and Blade Runner. The Warehouse lacks originality, but it compensates through a clever and compelling rearranging of its various blocks. About the time you think you know where it’s headed, author Rob Hart veers in a slightly different direction. The same can be said of his characters and their motives. Hart keeps us just unbalanced enough to make us doubt whether they will do as we suspect. That’s a good thing because often they don’t!

Let me give Hart another shout out for introducing secondary characters that have just enough depth to advance the plot in feasible ways. There is also moral ambiguity within The Warehouse that lends verisimilitude to the beat-the-clock drama that sets up the conclusion. If you think of the very world Hart constructs, who would be most likely to be correct: those resigned to the status quo, the skeptics, the starry-eyed converts, or the saboteurs? If you guessed “yes,” ask Amazon to ship you a copy of The Warehouse.

Rob Weir

This review will run on off-centerviews.com in August.

I didn't think too much of this one, to be honest. I was hoping for a Cory Doctorow-style take on how Amazon really works but instead we were following around a handful of lackluster characters going through the motions. A good editor would've moved the application scene to the beginning, since it took some uninteresting trudging around to get there. Maybe next time.

I enjoyed this book for the most part. The concept was interesting. The points of views were well done. I felt the ending was rushed, abrupt and open ended. I do not know if there is a sequel planned, if so, that would explain the open ended ending, if not it was a bit of a let down.

Received an ARC from #NetGalley

Not so much a thriller in the classic sense, although there are chilling elements. Really more of a cautionary tale whose reality may be closer than we think. The outside world is more Mad Max than ever -- climate change, gun violence and a disintegrating government have rendered America almost uninhabitable, except for one behemoth that controls the only viable possibility for employment and has applicants scrambling for jobs no matter how menial, meaning giving up whatever lives they may have on the "outside" to live within the confines of the MotherCloud, don a color-coded polo shirt, and fit into an automaton slot (Freedom is something you have until you give it away). Insidious and creepy, focussing on two new hires each with their own agenda. Reminiscent of Dave Eggars's The Circle, but a shade better. I can even see the movie trailer, with Don LaFontaine-like voice intoning "In A World....".

The story begins with a blog post by a man named Gibson Wells. He owns Cloud and at first, seems like a good guy. After you meet Zinnia and Paxton and hear things from their POV, you may change your mind about him.

Zinnia is a corporate spy hired by an anonymous rich guy to take down Cloud from the inside. Paxton is a former prison guard/inventor who used to market his invention as a vendor on Cloud but eventually got put out of business by them. Since he didn't want to go back to the prison work, he decided to work at Cloud until his patent came through and he could sell it to Cloud.

As we learn more and more about the state of the world it becomes clear that this is basically a "company town" like in the old west or steel mill days. You don't get paid money, you get credits. You live at Cloud, buy all your food from them, wear a trackable wristband, and even purchase the water you shower with from them. In exchange you get a star rating, five is great, and one equals immediate dismissal

Cloud is for sure code for Amazon, which gives me mixed feelings as I affiliate link over there every day. 🤷 When I figure out a way to link to independent bookstores easily, I will.

Boy oh boy, is the world Rob Hart has created in The Warehouse ever messed up. And it's just near-future enough, and realistic enough, that it's creepy as all get out. If you enjoy dystopian novels that hit close to home, this is definitely a page-turner. It's smart and clever in a relaxed, never-pretentious style.

Gibson is the CEO of an online retail giant named Cloud. Gibson doesn't seem so bad at first, but then you get to know him on a deeper level. His portrayal is so, so good. It's not over-the-top, look how evil this guy is. It's way more subtle. You get the feeling Gibson truly believes what he's doing is good for people. And then you start understanding why he thinks that way, and it messes with your head. I loved hating him.

I mean, we've got out of control climate change, a prison system full of low-level, nonviolent offenders (outstanding parking tickets, failure to pay mortgages and student loans), an abysmal job market, corporations tracking employees' every move, CEOs sponsoring legislation, privatized everything. It's a nightmare. And Cloud seems like a utopian oasis in the midst of all that. Seems like.

I loved the Le Guin reference, so perfectly incorporated into what was happening. And there's a quote at the end that makes my anarchist-leaning heart super happy and energized. The Warehouse is an entertaining novel, for sure, but we should pay attention to its messages and consider ourselves warned.

If you take the worst of mega companies like, Amazon and China’s Alibaba and give them ultimate power you will get The Warehouse. The author, Rob Hart, explores the idea of a dystopian world where one company rules supreme. This story hits so close to home it will make you shutter in horror and give you nightmares.
In the near future, the world is ravaged by global warming, food shortages, lack of clean water and jobs. Amongst this chaos one company rules supreme, Cloud. They tout themselves as nothing short of God. But they have a seedy underbelly that few ever see.
Zinnia has been hired by a wealthy individual, whose identity she does not know, to infiltrate Cloud so they can be exposed. This will be her most difficult job ever and the most lucrative, if she can complete it. Once she gets hired, she immediate starts looking for ways to break through their security. Cloud tracks all its employees, ALL the time, through a watch. The watch must be worn at all times and can only be taken off to recharge. She must figure out a way to take the watch off and not get caught.
The solution lies with Paxton who is already drawn to her. He is in security and knows things that will help her and he can go places she can’t. How can she dupe him? If he knows what is truly going on at Cloud, will he be willing to help her?
The author is obviously drawing parallels between Cloud and Amazon just as The Circle did with Facebook. As the CEO of Cloud says repeatedly throughout the book, the market decided. We as consumers want the cheapest product delivered right to our door yesterday. The company that can do that will be the winner in the end, not the consumer! The scariest thing about this book is, the world Hart imagines I can already see beginning to take shape.
The world building was not extensive because it did not need to be. Yet, what the author described was spot on. It was easy to imagine how bad things could get when control rests with one person. The pace of the story was excellent and it never dragged for one minute. Each reveal was thoughtfully executed so you wanted to reader faster as the story progressed.
The characters were especially well done. Zinnia and Paxton charters were easy to relate to. Though I must say, I did not like the character of Paxton because he was too much of a push over. Yet, I think this is what the author intended. Paxton represents the attitude I see a lot of in America today, that as long as I am doing OK ignore what is happening elsewhere. Don’t rock the boat and stand up for what is right.
I remember, in school, reading The Handmaid’s Tale, 1984 and Animal Farm. The Warehouse falls right into the same niche as those. If you liked them, you need to read this one. In addition, I think this book should be a must read for everyone. Highly, highly recommend!
I received a free copy from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.