The Punch Escrow

By: Tal M. Klein

Narrated by: Matthew Mercer

It's the year 2147. Advancements in nanotechnology have enabled us to control aging. We've genetically engineered mosquitoes to feast on carbon fumes instead of blood, ending air pollution. And teleportation has become the ideal mode of transportation, offered exclusively by International Transport - a secretive firm headquartered in New York City. Their slogan: Departure...Arrival...Delight!

Joel Byram, our smartass protagonist, is an everyday 22nd century guy. He spends his days training artificial-intelligence engines to act more human, jamming out to 1980s new wave - an extremely obscure genre - and trying to salvage his deteriorating marriage. Joel is pretty much an everyday guy with everyday problems - until he's accidentally duplicated while teleporting. Now Joel must outsmart the shadowy organization that controls teleportation, outrun the religious sect out to destroy it, and find a way to get back to the woman he loves in a world that now has two of him.

©2017 Tal M. Klein (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Narrator Matthew Mercer is perfectly cast as smart-ass Joel Byram. One can almost see Joel's facial expressions as he navigates a world in which he's been duplicated in a teleportation accident. This futuristic story is made Monty Python-like by Mercer's outstanding voicings. His version of the synthesized voice of the 171-year-old founder of a religious cult is beautifully mechanical. His rendering of the two Levantine spies' accents is marvelous. And his depiction of the transformation of a hardworking science guy into full-fledged mad scientist is spot-on. Many characters, many voices - one terrific performance." (AudioFile)

Difficult To Suspend Disbelief

A nice story but so riddled with logical errors that it becomes difficult to suspend my disbelief.

Finished it in one day

Picked it up for Matthew Mercer, Stayed for the amazing story and characters. Very much worth a listen, the story and plot are very compelling and Mercer's range is impeccable.

Matthew Mercer, wow, my new favorite narrator!!

What a great story, well told and narrated by Matthew Mercer. Bring on the future!!

Amazing story & voice actor

Loved hearing Mercer for hours! His voice can make anything come to life! Just like in Critical Role by just using his voice he can help you picture the characters and it was a wonderful ride.

Matt Mercer is fantastic

There were times I forgot it was just one person reading. He was animated and charismatic during the whole book. Can't wait for more from him.

More Matthew Mercer PLEASE!!!!!

I will admit, I only bought this book for the narrator. Matthew Mercer is one of the best voice actors....ever. I only wish I could give him more stars. I was pleasantly surprised by how good the story was too! I marked it down because I found the myself actually saying “get on with it!” at the climax. If you like Douglas Adams, you will be a fan of this book.

Awesome new narrator

The story was fun to imagine and author does a good job of absorbing you into the new world. The highlight for me is the narrator, every voice was immediately distinctive. There were many middle eastern accents and each distinctive. It is set here in good ole USA and jumps to Costa Rica and back. One reviewer suggested a mechanical voice for Josh to the second, I disagree as Josh 2 should be a non distinguishable copy. All In all I enjoyed this book and highly recommend.

Great story and fabulous narration

I found this story very clever, humorous and exciting - and the narration was excellent!

Unique view of the 22nd Century

Ill give it a 3.5 for original content and an interesting story. A little over dramatic at times. Maybe it's me but if I had a doppelganger created from an accident with a transported, I'd think it was cool. Tal almost completely lost me with his renditions of Boy George... I don't like anything about the original and Tal made it worse. It is those kind of things that lose you in the story, they are detractors. Al in all, enjoy it.

Not bad

It's a decent nic cage style scifi story. The premise is good, but nothing too mind blowing for scifi regulars. I enjoyed it though.