Sucker

A Novel

De: Daniel Hornsby

Narrado por: Graham Halstead

Succession meets Bad Blood in this sharp-toothed satire of Silicon Valley and the 1 percent • The black-sheep son of an industrial tycoon starts working for a tech pioneer who's running a biomedical startup selling nothing less than immortality, only to uncover the horrifying truth at the heart of her sublime promises.

"Exceptional, horrifically hilarious, and deeply original.”—Kevin Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Nothing to See Here

Chuck Gross would like nothing more than to prune himself from his family tree. He’s already clipped his name, turning Charles Grossheart, Jr.—son of a billionaire labor exploiter, weapons manufacturer, and climate change denier—into ordinary good-guy Chuck, the “self-made” proprietor of an up-and-coming punk label. But when Daddy threatens to cut him off, Chuck is forced to get a “real job”—and conveniently, an old college friend has just swept back into his life with the perfect opportunity.

Famed Harvard dropout and biotech darling Olivia Watts says she is on the verge of totally reinventing the field of medicine, but when Chuck signs on, he soon discovers that things at the vast Kenosis campus are not quite how they appear. Secret labs, vanished employees, and mutated test subjects seem to be as impossible as they are sinister. Is Olivia simply a scammer, or does her technology threaten to usher humanity toward a far bloodier fate? Moreover, does Chuck—who has never accomplished anything without the aid of Daddy’s money—stand a chance of stopping her? Daniel Hornsby hilariously skewers the insatiable hungers of the ultrarich in a novel that no one will be able to resist sinking their teeth into.

©2023 Daniel Hornsby (P)2023 Random House Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

“This is not so much a roman à clef as a roman avec des dents: Hornsby retells the bloody story of Elizabeth Holmes as a vampire spoof. . . . Hornsby brings a sharp wit to this worn crypt. Sucker highlights the Twilight in The Twilight Zone to create a caustic satire of obscene wealth. . . . Hornsby’s descriptions frequently draw blood. . . . No matter the fangs or the fury, Hornsby never forgets he’s writing a comic novel inspired by one of the 21st century’s greatest swindlers. What really keeps Sucker airborne, though, is how it spreads its wings to embrace the whole nefarious network of super-rich fiends who hang in the shadows and drain ordinary people dry.” —Ron Charles, The Washington Post

“[A] winning comic thriller. . . . An entertaining page-turner, Sucker is also a keen send-up of tech industry grandiosity.” —Kevin Canfield, Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Daniel Hornsby has pulled off an incredibly impressive feat with Sucker, a wildly funny satire of technology, of obscene wealth, of the real and fake narratives we tell about ourselves. Just when you think you know where it’s going, how it will fall in line with the absurdities of our own world, he swerves in ways that open up the story beyond what you could have imagined. Exceptional, horrifically hilarious, and deeply original.” —Kevin Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Nothing to See Here

Excellent light fiction

Sucker is a throughly enjoyable bit of timely escapist writing. While the plot tracks the Theranos debacle, Hornsby manages enough deft twists to keep the book both original and entertaining. The Audible narration is tone perfect for the somewhat obnoxious first person voice. Definitely a fun read/listen.

Six stars actually

You won't find a funnier satire of the ultra rich, the ultra powerful, and the labyrinthine world of ultra innovation. Seven stars.

Stupid

What can I say? I kept expecting something. Anything really. The ending was contrived, simplistic and, well, stupid.