Exit Black
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Die Hard meets The Martian—with a dash of Knives Out—in this action-packed sci-fi thriller.
Imperium is the most expensive structure ever created. Once an orbiting laboratory, it is now a space hotel for the fantastically wealthy. But as the station preps for its first group of space tourists, Dr. Chloe Bonilla, Imperium’s resident biophysicist, finds herself questioning whether babysitting a passel of space glampers is worth the distraction from her research.
A private rocket delivers a rogues’ gallery of the world’s elite to Imperium: eccentric billionaires, callow tech bros, a sponsored Instagram influencer, and a seemingly saintly philanthropist. However, posing among the staff are members of a global terrorist group who call themselves the Reckoners, hell bent on upending the economic inequality of twenty-first-century Earth—and they have a bone to pick with these scions of the 1 percent.
As the Reckoners take control of Imperium and demand an $8 billion ransom from their wealthy hostages, it’s up to Dr. Bonilla to save them, and fast. Or the captives will be forced to exit the station—and there’s only one way out.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this exciting sci-fi thriller from Pitkin (Stranger Bird), the world's first orbital hotel, Imperium, becomes a horrifying battlefield. As the novel opens, Dr. Chloe Bonilla, a plant physiologist who lives on the station researching gravitropism in bean sprouts, greets Imperium's first group of exorbitantly wealthy guests. Later, she awakens in the small hours to find that three of her fellow crew members are being cast out into space by heavily armed terrorists from a group called the Reckoners. As the Reckoners remove their disguises and initiate a hostage situation, Chloe remains hidden, ready to throw a wrench in their plans. Chloe is extraordinarily—often unbelievably—capable of navigating this Die Hard–style setup: a crack shot whose scientific knowledge and fighting instincts make her a serious threat. Throughout, Pitkin's research shines, as realistic dangers—including low gravity and depressurization—propel the plot. Through rotating perspectives Pitkin punctuates the action with intriguing commentary on death, animal instincts, and the wealth gap. While the time spent introducing each hotel guest slows the beginning, their unique stories all come together for a nail-biting climax. Fans of suspenseful hard science fiction will revel in every detail.
