Users

“An engaging story of a virtual reality designer stuck in a rut . . . In Winnette’s hands, the dangerous blur between the virtual and reality provides both a warning and a thrill.” 

—Publishers Weekly 

“A surreal puzzle box and page-turner from which the reader may never recover, full of the unique absurdity, dark humor, and character insight that make Colin Winnette’s work such a joy.”

—Jeff VanderMeer, NYT-bestselling author of the Southern Reach Trilogy and Hummingbird Salamander

“Users is the best kind of book: both thrillingly old-fashioned, and utterly, daringly timely. Winnette captures the anxiety and paranoia of the current age in a tale that will have you ripping through the pages. 

Haunting, clever, witty, terrifying, moving; reader, I loved it.”

—Andrew Sean Greer, winner of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Less

“In gripping prose and disturbingly sharp focus, Colin Winnette presents us with a not-too-distant future where technology and selfhood have become completely entangled. Users shows how we can become addicted to our customizable versions of reality, both on and offline—and how tenuous the boundary between these two realms can be. I kept thinking about this novel long after I put it down.”

—Hernan Diaz, Pulitzer Prize Finalist, author of In the Distance and Trust

“Users creeps upon the reader like the well-designed programs it describes, disguising itself as a tome about the future, virtual reality, the tech world, and what tantalizing dangers it wreaks. But what is truly frightening about this extraordinary book is the center of its futuristic shell—an unsettling look at marriage, parenting, and relationships that will lurk in the reader’s mind long after the final page. Colin Winnette has written a delicious nightmare. Welcome to its open maw.”

—Esmé Weijun Wang, author of The Collected Schizophrenias