The concept of Cloud and its MotherClouds where workers live, work, and hang out felt all too real after hearing stories of Amazon, Facebook and Google. At first I thought this was going to be another book just like The circle (very similar concept). But this added a layer of corporate espionage and someone who we know from the start is not who or what they say they are. Definitely a page turner and I enjoyed it from start to finish. Not too much sci fi, a bit of dystopian, but nothing too scary.. right in my comfort zone for this genre.

Wow, this book was really scary. Scary in a way that makes you wonder if this could really happen. Imagine a huge online retailer (cough, cough....one that starts with the letter A perhaps). This online retailer pretty much controls the economy. What you buy, where you work, and even where you live. Gone are the days with laws against monopolies. Climate change has made it too hot to go outside, coastal cities are under water, gun violence have made people afraid to go outside and then there is The Cloud. A mega retailer/employer whose green initiate will save the planet. I was completely engrossed in the story. A cautionary tale? A modern 1984? Speculative fiction? Yep.

Rob Hill cleverly turns a lot of today’s difficult realities into a very easy to believe near future. Depending on the perspective in the new world Cloud is the problem or the solution to our major problems. I thought that Mr. Hill did a great job a creating a world that was so easy to picture, close enough to where we now but twisted enough to make firmly set in the future. There is plenty that is creepy and awful about Cloud but when told from the perspective of Gibson Wells you have to consider if in this gutted world it may not be the best things can be. And at the same time you have to wonder how responsible the Cloud is for the issues in their world .

Zinnia and Paxton our main characters were interesting to follow and really helped paint a picture of what life is like living and working at Cloud. I felt like we had a pretty good idea of what Paxton’s life was like prior to his arrival at the cloud but I was left wanting to know more about Zinnia’s past. She was a badass and sometimes seemed a little detached and while there did seem to be reasons for this it would have been nice to know more about how she ended up where she was.

I also wanted to know just a little more about the world outside of the Cloud and more information about how it had deteriorated.

Besides my wish for more backstory I have to say this was a really great book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for sending me a free advanced reader copy of this book for an honest review. The Warehouse debuts August 20th.

Let’s cut to the chase: this is a book about Amazon. If you’ve ever entertained the question of what the world would look like if Amazon continues going great guns and secures a bit more political power, then this is a must-read. This is a near-future dystopia, where devastating global warming and Black Friday massacres have ensured that consumers are unwilling to leave their houses—basically ever. Enter Cloud, who will drone-ship every product imaginable to your doorstep in the blink of an eye. Their workers live in massive company towns, where you get paid in Cloud credits, eat Cloud burgers, and sleep in Cloud-issued apartments. And if you don’t want to buy into the system, too bad, because unemployment is sky high, so how else you gonna make a buck, bro?

Enter Paxton and Zinnia, two new recruits to Cloud. Paxton is an entrepreneur whose small business dreams were squashed under the weight of pressure by Cloud to lower his production costs. Zinnia is a corporate spy on the most dangerous mission of her life: to figure out how Cloud is really producing their energy. Paxton has a job on the security team, while Zinnia only manages to secure a lowly picker role. If you have any sort of plot intuition, you can kinda see where things are headed from there, and it’s a wild, compulsive read that was hard to put down.

Listen, I like Amazon well enough. To give a personal example, my book is on Amazon in the KDP program, and I truly admire the innovation they have brought to the publishing industry by introducing the Kindle and an ebook marketplace to the world. Believe it or not, at least in the publishing sphere, Amazon has been great for the little guy. Print-on-demand and easy ebook distribution are threatening to topple the long-established gatekeepers of publishing, i.e., agents and publishers, allowing authors to be their own boss and have total control over their final product.

But that’s not to say that everything Amazon does smells of roses; you don’t get to that level of success without trampling over others. So if you’re a fan of dystopian fiction, I would definitely pick this up—it’s a fast, thrilling read that will ironically probably be topping Amazon’s book rankings.

This book was riveting; I couldn't put it down! The setting is a warehouse, like Amazon's, but there is a spy in the mix, plus a bit of romance. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

The Warehouse follows the story of Paxton, when he comes to interview for a position at Cloud, the multi-billionaire corporation that employees thousands of people in jobs ranging from security, packaging, health-care, cleaning, tech, and much more. Working at Cloud provides financial stability as well as a place to call home. On the surface, Cloud seems like a good place to work, but Paxton brings with him a side to Cloud that others might not have experienced, unless they were running a small business some years back.

Set in the future, when all deliveries are made using drones, guns are no longer a part of America, and many big cities have collapsed, giving rise to MotherClouds that become big cities themselves, much has changed form today's time. Rob Hart's book is a deep study of the drive and choices that led to this future, the effects on the people of the world, and the comfort that it provides. With pieces of insights from Gibson, the visionary behind Cloud, and Zianna, hired to destroy Cloud, the reader is exposed to multiple perspectives on the company and its functionality. I found all three characters to be well thought out and built. With Gibson, especially, his narrative invoked sympathy at times. Paxton, though, is at the midst of everything, struggling to define what freedom truly means.

I really enjoyed this book. It was seasoned with commentary on a number of issues that we face today - the access to guns in America, the reliability on delivery systems like Amazon (not yet drone operated but that's in the works), green energy, the business vs the government, law and order, and waste management. There is so much here, layered with multiple human experiences. I am thankful for the publisher and author for making an advanced reader copy available to me through NetGalley. I look forward to delving deeper on The Warehouse on my blog in the near future.

Paxton and Zinnia get off of a bus in the middle of nowhere for a job interview. Without being told exactly why, we see the town is deserted, there are no vehicles except the bus from the Cloud Company taking you first to a weeding out sort of interview and then on to a large city created by and for a large company. You will see that both Paxton and Zinnia are hired to work and live in the company created city. The founder gives us his story as to how and why he created his cities and his companies as the story unwinds. You will see Paxton's reasons for taking a job and also Zinnia's. They are there for purposes other than the necessity of having a stable job and a safe place to live.
There are hints as to why the environment outside the cities are so unsafe and inhospitable but, never a full story. Unfortunately, using my own imagination, the idea of the world degrading to the point it has in The Warehouse is not as far fetched as you would think. The idea of a large company taking over all sales, housing, health care and any other needs people have is frightening in how easily it could be done.
I really enjoyed this book. The what ifs it brought to mind were interesting and scary and the way Rob Hart weaves the stories of the characters together is very good.
Thank you to Net Galley and Crown Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this book. It will be released August 20th and it is well worth the read.

Yep. This book is awesome. We've got ourselves in a whole "If Amazon was a Black Mirror episode" situation and it's really damn amazing. Workers who wear trackers to make sure they hit their numbers, make sure they take "breaks" when they're supposed to. Trackers that can tell how fast they're moving, if they're climbing without help. It's all a hot, crazy mess. Oh, and there might be a love story....and a possible coup afoot. How could this book be better? Honestly, I can't answer that. But maybe you can, when you read it. As you should, because, like I said, it's damn amazing.

The Warehouse publishes 8.20.19. And you should immediately buy it. Totally worth it.

Think Amazon and Walmart on steroids: What would happen if either (or both) of these already giant companies went wild and, quite literally, took over the world's commerce?

At first blush, the yin-yang is easy to envision; virtually all small business would be wiped out and the only "secure" jobs essentially would be low-paying gruntwork (albeit with substantial benefits). On the other hand, the convenience for consumers would be unmatched. With state-of-the-industry order technology, huge distribution centers staffed by hundreds and a sky littered with delivery drones, anything people might want would be at their fingertips almost instantly. The question then becomes - and worthy of note is that it's a question that's being asked today - to what extent are those consumers willing to overlook the exploitation of other human beings in order for their own needs to be satisfied?

This entertaining yet often disturbing book gives readers some idea of what life might be like should that happen (some, of course, will argue that we're already at that point). The scene is set at the mothership of a ginormous company called Cloud, which has "campuses" all over the country complete with living quarters, health care and recreational opportunities for the thousands of employees at the facilities. During working hours, they perform jobs assigned to them by managers supposedly according to their skills; to keep them all in line, there's a rating system that, if in any way violated, would land them back in the outside world to fend for themselves (with the promise they'd never again be employed by Cloud). That outside world is dog-eat-dog - pretty much literally - and the long lines of people waiting to submit their resumes to Cloud is a testament to their desperation to escape as well as serve yet another deterrent to any employee who might consider bucking the carefully contrived system.

Enter central characters Paxton and Zinnia, both of whom applied for jobs at Cloud, each for a different, nefarious reason. I won't reveal what those reasons are, but only that neither expects to be working there after their goals have been realized. They meet for the first time briefly on the tram ride that takes them to their work and living quarters. Paxton is more interested in Zinnia than she in him, but early on, she sees an advantage in cozying up to him. Meanwhile, Gibson Wells, the creator and CEO of this monster company, is dying of cancer. Considering himself to be the savior of the free world, he starts a blog to lay out the reasons - more like justifications - behind all he's done that will culminate in the announcement of his successor. He's also announced plans to personally visit all his Cloud facilities before he succumbs, ending with the MotherCloud at which Paxton and Zinnia are employed.

Told through alternating perspectives of the three characters, readers begin to get the full story - complete with a few timely surprises that keep things really interesting and, in the process, provide some food for thought that carries over to the real world (as evidenced by the twinge of buyer's remorse I felt just after finishing the book as I pushed the "place order" button to get the items in my Amazon cart). Oh well, at least they haven't activated drone delivery in my neighborhood (yet).

Thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review an advance copy of this entertaining and thought-provoking book.

Wow! What a ride. Scariest thing about this book is that it's not the typical dystopian world that you don't recognize. So what happens when an Amazon or a Walmart takes over the economy and the US? I feel like it's totally something that could happen even as soon as 10 years from now!

The world that Rob Hart builds is so realistic and believable. I like the relationship that blooms between Paxton and Zinnia. I also enjoyed seeing Paxton's growth and development through the book. You really see how you can get sucked into something that you've sworn to hate.

The only thing I didn't like was the ambiguous ending. Just tell me what happens one way or another!

***Full review to be added to NetGalley, Goodreads, and my blog closer to publication date. It will be added to Amazon upon release.***

The Warehouse is a somewhat foreboding and unexpected look at what could happen if a large e-commerce company were to become the leading--nearly sole--provider of products in the country.



The world-building in The Warehouse is crucial to this story and overall I think Hart really excelled in this area. His creation of Cloud and all that inhabits it was vivid and done in such a way that it felt extremely realistic. There is immense detail given in relation to how the company works, including surveillance, the divisions among employees, the places they are and are not allowed to visit, the tracking, the day-to-day monotony of each area of work life, and so much more. I loved all the little details that Hart included in order to make Cloud feel like an authentic corporation, such as the inclusion of the initial welcome and training information that the employees get upon starting (looking to set up for retirement at Cloud? you'll find out how!) to the rating system in place among employees to keep them working diligently. It brings everything to life.



The world outside of Cloud is also a rather important point of interest for the story and is something I won't go into much detail about, but I do wish that there had a been a bit more background given on the events of the outside world and how they led to Cloud being what it is. There's a general overview given so it's not a mystery per se, but it is still something that I would've liked to know more about, including how people outside of Cloud survive. We get so much about how so many people live in Cloud, but I'm curious about the people outside of Cloud who are constantly ordering from them.



The two main characters we follow are Paxton and Zinnia, each coming to work at Cloud for vastly different reasons, but both falling prey to its greedy, soul-consuming environment. I can't say I ever really felt connected to either character or felt exceptionally attached to them, but I was still invested enough to where I had motivation to keep reading this story and find out what would befall them. I related to various sentiments and situations that each found them in at various times, but as characters overall I just never really liked either one, though Paxton himself seemed rather harmless. All that being said, I don't mind if I don't really like characters as long as they are still interesting and the story is still strong, and both of those were true of The Warehouse. They both had well-developed character arcs that were handled with a deft hand and accurately depicted how an environment like Cloud can affect one's mindset.



The pacing of The Warehouse matches the tone and plot of the story extremely well. It's a steady pace at all times, even if it's a period of time when there isn't a lot technically happening and it doesn't seem as though the action is moving the plot forward. There are plenty of moments of monotony and repetition that Hart adopts in order to convey what life is really like at Cloud, and because of that these areas feel a bit slower at times even though things are still moving at the same pace. I can see this being hit or miss with people, but I didn't personally mind it all that much. The ending is also a bit abrupt and left me with mixed feelings. Part of me really likes the note that Hart ended this book on, but there's also a part of me that wanted a little more from our characters. In the end, though, it just ends up feeling like something that might happen in real life, which we all know isn't always that exciting and thus felt fitting.



The Warehouse is not technically a horror novel. There's nothing overtly 'scary'--there's no ghosts jumping out at people--but there are plenty of things that are inherently frightening and are a deep cause for worry. This takes on a lot of topics about consumerism, corporate greed, climate change, acceptance/standing by, and many other topics that are relevant to our lives today. It's scary because a lot of the elements at play feel eerily plausible and it creates a great reason to step back and reevaluate our role in our world.



Overall, I've given The Warehouse four stars! This is a solid book with dystopian vibes that will really make you think about things while keeping you hooked on every page.

I so want to jump on the bandwagon with all the readers who’ve loved this book. Alas, I’m an outlier, left feeling this story could’ve been so much better.

The Warehouse is set in a near, dystopian future, which both fascinated and irritated me. Life inside The Cloud facility is brilliantly portrayed. I felt what it was like to live and work there. Yet, life beyond the walls of this isolated facility remained mostly a mystery. We’re given hints of a desolate and desperate society, but I wanted to know more so that I understood the desperation. Had the nation become a sort of police state? Did we still have social services, police, firefighters, hospitals, schools? Was the nation even functioning? None of this was explained.

The pacing is maddeningly slow and monotonous. I know this was done, at least in part, to show us the monotony of life there, but I quickly grew bored. I didn’t need to experience endless mind-numbing monotony in order to understand it. And so I skimmed, a lot.

Still, I persevered because I wanted to know how it all turned out. I expected all the buildup to lead us to an explosive ending. But, no, what we’re given is an abrupt and lackluster ending. We’re left with more questions than answers, intentionally perhaps, though the fizzling out and dangling threads only left me irritated.

If you enjoy dystopian novels that expound on a certain mega-conglomerate internet company’s potential to take over the country and maybe the world, then this book offers a lot to consider. But, while I give props for the concept, the execution left me disappointed.

Just read for a few before I turn out the lights. Sure, it'll be relaxing!

*3 hours later*

Still swiping my Kindle screen as fast as I can absorb it. I've been a fan of Rob's since his first series and he has outdone himself with this tale of what feels like the not too distant future. Where we become assets of our corporate overlords. We are either labor or consumers and sometimes both.

As a kid, my dad took me on a tour through an old "company town" where you worked for the lumber mill, rented your house from the lumber mill, shopped in the company store, and had a bill at the end of the month. You traded your life, youth, and labor for food and shelter and nothing more.

And we thought this was history because society is now so "woke" and enlightened.

A ripping good tale where you feel the despair as soon as you get off the bus and are part of the first winnowing - do you want it bad enough to run for it? There is no last place in The Cloud.

Be the first one to read this . . . .

Let's face it, we all know what corporation this is meant to skewer. It's told from the viewpoints of Paxton, who lost his business to the Cloud and now works for it, Zinnia, who is a spy in the machine, and Gibson, the founder who is now dying of cancer. Everything you thought you knew about working for a megacorporation is here- and more. This is an up or out organization which sucks the workers dry and then spits them out if they can't keep up. Everything about their lives is tied to the Cloud; they aren't paid in money but in credits. There's constant surveillance. Oh and drones. Gibson is delusional about how he changed the US. This is a a carefully layered and plotted novel - wonderfully written with two sympathetic and one loathsome character. It's also fascinating in its detail. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I liked this much more than I expected to. Read it and then go shop local!

This is a bit of a change for me compared to my normal sci-fi/fantasy. But I really enjoyed it. The setting is in the near future where climate change, violence and unemployment has completely changed the landscape of America and the world. A company, Cloud, is changing the dynamic of work and life. It is easy to make the jump that Cloud=Amazon. To have a job, people have to pretty much live at a MotherCloud campus. The story follows 3 characters; Paxon, a man who had a company that went under because of Cloud, Zinnia, a corporate spy that is working the biggest job of her life, and Gibson, the dying leader of Cloud. This is all about privacy, work/live balance and the roles that corporations have on our lives and how we, the public, are unknowingly “voting” for different things. This is definitely a must read if you are interested in economics and how corporations are part of our lives.

The Warehouse by Rob Hart.

I’ve had to continue to think about this one before writing my review. I really enjoyed the premise and plot. I loved Zinnia’s character and was anxious to figure out how she was going to pull this infiltration off in a world that seems to be monitoring and controlling your every move.

I enjoyed getting to know Paxton and getting a look inside his conflicting thoughts and emotions about what is right and wrong and how he should move forward.

It was a super interesting story and kept me interested and curious throughout the book.

However, at the “end” it left me wondering if I had missed something. I even questioned if my ARC perhaps was missing the final chapter(s) somehow. 😂😂😂 I kept thinking about Magpie Murders and how the ending was missing.

So in that aspect it left me frustrated and wondering if there’s going to be a book two to explain or continue.

The Warehouse was a fun read. A bit predictable (obvious plots from the beginning) and in my opinion the ending was a bit of a let down, but the rest was a fun fast paced read. It would have been nice to have some more character development along the way but I was enjoying the Cloud world development.

This will definitely translate well to film or tv if done right. Apparently it’s already been optioned so we will see. Tv would be a better choice here so as not to lose any of the details. Honesty the title is doing a disservice. Perhaps this should have been called MotherCloud, Cloud, Perfect Egg, or Oblivion.

This was a completely immersive book that I could NOT put down. Well plotted and written, with intriguing characters and an imagined future so chillingly possible that it will keep you awake at night. The possibilities and the repercussions are certain to spark discussion. Great choice for a book club read.

Wow! This book! I felt like I was reading a scary version of Amazon and the Cloud! I mean you never know right? I feel companies like Amazon, Disney, etc are taking over the world in their own ways. Don't come for me!

This book is told in three different POV's. Paxton gets hired on at Cloud as a security officer. He didn't want this particular job but with his history of being a prison guard, he got it anyway.

We have Zinnia and this is not her real name. She gets the job Paxton wants, just running around filling orders like a crazy person. Sounds so familiar. Zinnia and Paxton have a friendship etc.

Then we have Gibson who is the owner of Cloud. He tells his story and how he started Cloud through-out the book.

The Cloud is supposed to be helping people in the world with jobs and with being able to get help without leaving their homes. They even have schools and banks; it's rather creepy.

Through-out the book you find things are not as cozy as they seem. Zinnia is there on her own mission and she finds out some really, really disturbing stuff! DO NOT EAT THE CLOUDBURGERS! But there were little things I thought were gross and should have been taken care of in a world so perfect as this.

Oh and the employees have little homes, well cubicle like apartments they live in and they can upgrade if they save enough to afford it.

Anyway, I enjoyed the book, it creeped me out and I'm glad I have started to buy more things from actual stores again!

*I would like to thank Netgalley and the Publisher for asking me to review this book. All thoughts are my own.*

Happy Reading!

Mel ♥

Wow! This book was incredible. I can totally see this happening in real life which is mind numbingly terrifying. This book grabs you and shakes you and it's hard to let go off. A must read.