This was a fantastic novel. I've read it several times since getting the chance to get a review copy. Bravo!

This book took me on such a wild ride! It's no wonder it's received such high praise and is in the works of becoming a film. It definitely lived up to the hype, and I am so excited to see how this story translates to the screen for everyone to enjoy.

"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―the world’s most powerful corporation, in a world controlled by corporations.

Joel Byram spends his days training artificial-intelligence engines to act more human and trying to salvage his deteriorating marriage. He’s pretty much an everyday twenty-second century 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."

I really had hope in loving Ready Player One and I so didn't... so I now have faith in this book instead.

This was a lot of fun and very fast paced. At some point, I just had to let go of thinking about "does this make sense?" (It is science fiction! It doesn't have to!) and shift from the focus on flashy technology's possibilities to the ethical questions of the impact on human's lives and choices. Lots of fun.

Right up there with ready Player One! I am so looking forward to seeing if this one will be a movie, too! Well written, lots of interesting ideas I am sure will come to pass long after i am gone. Teleportation is an interesting concept; I've wondered about it ever since Star Trek. Great story and very well written. Once started, it's difficult to put down and I am NOT a big Sci-fi fan! This is absolutely a must read.

The Punch Escrow took me forever to read, and to be completely honest – I’m not sure why! I never at any point disliked the story. In fact, The Punch Escrow is right up my alley of types of books I do like. Now, I’ve encountered this situation before, as happened with my trying to reading David L. Golemon’s Supernaturals. The difference there was that almost from the beginning I could pinpoint the biggest problem (complete and utter lack of atmosphere). With The Punch Escrow, though, I was left wondering at several points why I had to force myself to read this book.

I think part of it might be that I have an aversion to footnotes. While they do give a bit of good information about the story that helps flesh it out, they always distract me. I have the attention span the size of a gnat. The fact that I can sit down and read a book from cover the amount of times I do is amazing. So when you ask me to take a break from the story to read the footnote, you’ve just distracted me from the story. And once I’m gone – I’m gone. Punch Escrow has a fair amount of footnotes.

Also, while I liked Joel well enough, his character was never enough to actually make me want to root for him. It was interesting watching him going through everything, and trying to puzzle everything out along with him but he just wasn’t an interesting character himself. I have to say, my favorite character in Punch Escrow was probably the ambulance. I loved that ambulance. And the peeing mosquitos. Those things will stay with you for a while.

I think that Punch Escrow would make an awesome sci-fi thriller film. In fact, I had a much easier time staying engaged with the book when I started thinking of it in terms of a movie. This was aided by the fact that around the 70% point, the action in the book picks up noticeably. Prior to that, it mires down a bit so that it’s easy to not realize that a good bit of stuff is actually happening.

Overall, I liked Tal M. Klein’s world. I think he does an excellent job of building off our now to make a believable future. There were portions of the book that had me laughing. Other sections that had me sitting back, nodding, and realizing that – yeah – if certain things do develop, it would probably start with something like what he posited. I think he has a solid imagination, and, all things considered, I did enjoy the novel. Just not as much as I should have.

You can actually read this post with all the GIFs on my blog: http://avalinahsbooks.space/the-punch-escrow/
★★★★★ 5 SHINING stars
I still feel sad that I haven’t posted a review right after I read it, but life severely got in the way, and there’s also that whole 5 star book review anxiety thing. It was just so good, I believe I won’t be able to write a good enough review for it.

Can I just tell you that:

★ this book was amazing
★ you must absolutely read it
★ there is no other way but for you to read it

And be done with it..? No……?

[GIF of cat pleading with pawsies]

Then let me give you a little bit of background first. First of all, it’s hard to put this in the scifi box… Let’s just call it future-speculative-fiction. No space, okay?

As for what happens, our main character Joel is a… happy-go-lucky guy, so you could say. He isn’t too responsible, too concerned about things. He works when needed, but other than that he calls himself a “breadloser”, because it’s his wife who earns in his family. And although it seems his life should be easy, he is concerned about the growing rift in his marriage. So just as he’s about to join her on their second honeymoon… His teleportation fails (did I mention Joel lives in the future..?) and he suffers a terrorist attack, as a result of which… He finds himself with a double, being chased by the equivalent of the government and abandoned by his oblivious wife. Yes, there’s a lot of action. Yes, there’s speculation too. And there’s philosophy.

Technically speaking, this book has all you could ever want. That’s certainly how I felt reading it.

[GIF of Spongebob making a rainbow]

I actually buddy-read this one with a friend, and he has provided questions for my review (as I have for him). So here are his questions!

What did you like most about the book?

Truly, it’s hard to say! I loved everything about it. It has great dynamics, Joel is a wonderful main character! He’s spunky, witty and imperfect. He will make you laugh even at the most dire of situations, or even when your heart breaks (and it does break in this story.) Other than that, I loved that the writing is sort of a mix between Ben Aaronovitch (Rivers of London) and Matt Wallace (Sin du Jour). It’s entertainment at its best! And yet, despite that, it’s also deep and touching where it needs to be. I simply couldn’t put it down.

What in the book did you not like, or what gave you pause?

[GIF of parrot shaking head no]

Zip. Nada. Nothing! I can confidently say I loved everything!

What technology from the book do you wish was available for use right now?

The basis of all of everything in The Punch Escrow is this wonderfully amazing thing that has been discovered, and it is called… Quantum Foam! Basically, with the right machine, you can print… anything. Your coffee cup. That perfect pizza from Friday night. A new car. Even humans.

I would be silly if I didn’t think that was awesome! (Apart from the humans bit. Mostly.) Think of all the cooking nobody would have to do. (Think of all the cake we could eat…)

[GIF of cupcakes]

What technology from the book do you wish never becomes real?

I couldn’t say I have anything against the technology in the book (even teleportation, despite how it’s portrayed!) But I was quite terrified of the power of technology – basically the fact that corporations overpowered the government and became it, and the ones that owned technology, owned… pretty much everything else. (That part of the book is quite dystopian, BTW.) That could very well happen. So while my answer isn’t quite about technology, that is NOT something I’d like to witness happening.

What would you do/how would you react to meeting your doppelganger?

Oh my gosh, I would be super curious! Maybe I’d finally see myself from the side and stop thinking that I look fat / ugly / my hair looks stupid understand that I’m like any other normal person?? Also? I’d really like to hear my voice in reality, but not through a microphone. Do you know that way your voice sounds incredibly stupid when it’s recorded?..

[GIF of Janice from Friends saying Oh. My. God.]

Can it, Janice.

Assuming teleportation works like in the book, and also assuming you know the truth about it, would you teleport?

Spoiler territory, but I still can’t answer that question. Honest to god, I have been thinking about this ever since I finished the book and that was at least a half a month ago. I’m leaning towards no… But then again, teleportation??

What book is next on your reading list?

[GIF of Nobody Knows]

I give up in trying to write a decent 5 star review and hope I’ve convinced you to read the book anyway!

I felt very disappointed with this book. The premise looked so interesting but the characters were not developed and the story felt so scattered. I didn't care about the characters and found myself skimming many parts just to get through it. With some reworking I think this story could be great! Take out the extra unnecessary details like the side notes and find a new way to explain things to the reader. I found myself confused reading the little blurbs about the subjects they were explaining because by the time I got to the side notes I couldn't even remember what the note was about. The relationship between Sylvia and Joel needed more establishing details to make me care about it. To me, it just seemed like a couple on the edge of break up but I didn't care if they broke up because I never learned enough about their happy times. The science/futuristic aspects of this book fell flat because it just didn't seem like the explanations worked. This review may feel scattered, but that's how I felt reading it. So I guess my review matches the book.

Books written in the first person can be good or tiresome to read. The main character, Joel Byram, telling the story in The Punch Escrow is a smart-ass that I quickly began to dislike. As the story developed, he began to realize what was important in life and this recognition led to a maturity that took him from self-centered smart-ass to heroic and caring husband.
The story is about three competing factions fighting over the use of a new transportation technology. Our main character is in the middle with these factions; all are trying to take advantage of him in order to suit their own agendas. From chase scenes, near certain death events, human duplication, to mad scientist threats and secret sects, Joel manages to navigate his way out of all of them as the story unfolds. A little far-fetched, but that is what fiction is supposed to be. We read fiction as an escape from reality. Who would want to read fiction that mirrors real life? How boring!

What happens next, The Punch Escrow is a story that keeps you wondering. It’s sci-fi and thriller wrapped up into a book. An easy read, the story does get a little bizarre when you think about the number of crises the main character had to deal with in a 24-hour period. Other than that, it was an enjoyment to read.

The Punch Escrow by Tal M. Klein: In 2147, teleportation has taken the world by storm and become THE means of transportation – except it’s not so much teleportation as it is cloning, a secret Joel Byram knows all too well. A smartass who spends his days outsmarting apps with one-liners, he’s not exactly the hero we asked for, but lucky for us, he’s just the man for the job. Inventive and wildly entertaining, The Punch Escrow is a perfect mix of Dark Matter’s collusion and The Martian’s witty science. (5 Stars)

I'll start off by saying the I loved The Punch Escrow. I found it to be very interesting and there was a ton of world building, done in a very unique way. It made me feel like I was learning about our future environment, and it seemed very believable.

Of course I know that I was just reading a story and not getting a glimpse into the future environment set 130 years in the future, but, I also felt that it was a realistic future and you could envision humans getting to it in the next 130 years.

I loved the way that Tal M. Klein built the world of The Punch Escrow. Instead of long paragraphs explaining the science or all the minute details of this world, he chose instead to use footnotes to convey more information about the time that The Punch Escrow exists in. Just reading the story itself, was enjoyable and still very easy to follow without needed to read the footnotes. However, if you did read the footnote, you got an even deeper understanding of the world that Klein built and the world seemed scientifically sound. Also, the mosquitoes were awesome, trust me.

I would consider myself to be a science enthusiast, so I can't say anything regarding the accuracy behind the scientific thoughts, but it seemed quite plausible when the author was talking about sciency stuff and you could feel all the research that went into The Punch Escrow.

The Punch Escrow touches on that age old question on if teleportation is murder. When Joel Byram is involved in a teleportation accident, he becomes a messiah for some and a complication for others. On the run from International Transport, the leading company that has commercialized freight and human teleportation, Joel is trying to get to his wife, Sylvia, who is off on their second honeymoon, waiting for him to arrive. Sylvia works for International Transport, and Joel is convinced that if he can get to her, they will stop trying to murder him.

When Joel finally makes his way to his wife, he discovers that there is more to his accident than he originally thought and the future of the world and teleportation rests on his shoulders.

Like I said at the beginning of this review, I loved this book. While reading it, I felt that it must have had some inspiration from Ready Player One. Not that this story is anything like Ready Player One, it's completely originally, but more in the scope of the story and the style of writing. The Punch Escrow is quite ambitious, it's tough to build a new world without it overwhelming the reader, but this was done well, but felt like a complete story.

It's funny, one of the things that I loved the most about The Punch Escrow was also one of the things that I disliked. There were so many footnotes in the beginning, it felt like half the time I was reading footnotes and not the actual story. I don't really think that author Tal M. Klein could have done this any differently, but by the second half of The Punch Escrow, the footnotes were no longer as prevalent and I found myself missing them.

There are a few books that even as you are reading them, you are telling people that the book is amazing and something that they have to read. As I was reading The Punch Escrow I kept telling my partner Michael that he would love it and that he needed to read it. I think that The Punch Escrow is a strong contender for this year's "must-read" sci-fi read.

I received an free ARC of The Punch Escrow from Inkshares via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

"Usually the Manhattan skyline was obscured by the haze of a billions-strong swarm of mosquitoes that ate pollution and pissed water." International Transport (IT) is a powerful and secretive corporation that controls all teleportation, but they aren't completely transparent about their methodology. When Joel Byram and his beautiful and brilliant wife Sylvia (who works at IT) try to teleport to Costa Rica for a second honeymoon, a group of religious fanatics cause things to go awry and the result is an accidental duplication of Joel.

I liked the scientific concepts in this book more than I liked the writing, but it was fast moving and kept me entertained for the most part. Philosophical questions were raised, but not delved into too deeply.

I had a few problems with this book. Joel is a smartass. I see a lot of young, male authors who make their male characters smartasses, constantly making wisecracks. I know that not everyone can be Oscar Wilde, but it would be refreshing to find some more intelligent way to lighten up a character. I really didn't know what Sylvia saw in him. Then there are the numerous and long-winded footnotes. They didn't work well in the ebook ARC that I was reading because they sometimes landed in the middle of sentences of the text. Maybe they are easier to read in the finished book. They usually did not add much to the story anyway, and I think that you can safely skip most of them and not miss much unless you really crave complicated science (and I have no idea about the accuracy of any of it).

It's hard to describe my other problems with the book in a spoiler-free manner but I'll try to mention some of them. Sylvia knows exactly how teleportation works, and has been working on a secret but related project called Honeycomb for over a year. Nevertheless, when the duplicate Joels appear she goes all "fainting maiden" at the proposed solution for the problem. The solution is in total compliance with the normal teleportation protocol so Sylvia's ethical dilemma is not logical. The duplicate Joels don't really need to be a problem, it's Honeycomb that poses the real ethical issues. However, having two Joels running around in the second half of the book (which is more thriller than sci fi) is probably better for the inevitable movie. The ending of the book suggests that there may be a sequel. If so, I would probably read it.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

Fiction can do quite a lot of things, but most often it aims to entertain or to express ambitious ideas. Great authors do both of those things brilliantly and produce great works, but great authors are few and far between. Good authors tend to excel at one of those aims to the detriment of the other, or excel adequately enough at both to find artistic and/or commercial success. I can forgive an entertaining novel for lacking ambition. I can forgive an ambitious novel for falling a little short of its goals. But I have no patience for a novel that fails spectacularly and aggressively at both. Those are just bad books.
Wherever you see a “high average” book on Amazon or Goodreads (such as this one – a 4.13/5 on GR at the time of my writing this) and you scroll through the reviews, there is always a least one prick among the 4 and 5 star gushers who has to poop in the punch bowl. Truly I tell you, I am almost never that guy. I can count the number of 1 star reviews I’ve written on one hand, with room to spare. 2 stars are a little more common, but not by much. More often than not, if I’m not as high on a book that everyone else loves, there are at least enough redeeming qualities to warrant a third star. So I promise you, if you see a lone star at the top of one of my reviews, there is some really intense dissatisfaction in play. In fact, my dislike for this novel is so intense that I am actually considering adding a second star to at least one of my other 1 star reviews out of fairness. I’m probably not going to do it, but I am thinking about it.
Teleportation – a longtime staple of the science fiction genre that is nonetheless ripe for further exploration – is the subject of The Punch Escrow. Set in the year 2147, Joel Byram is the husband of one of the leading scientists in teleportation technology. While teleporting to Costa Rica to meet his wife for a second honeymoon, a terrorist attack on the facility leaves him in limbo, causing his wife to panic and create a duplicate of him, not knowing that the “original” Joel rematerialized at the embarkation point. It’s not a bad setup for the story, but what follows doesn’t do it any justice. The plot is so thin that if you removed all the asides and digressions and info dumping and pointlessly elongated dialogue exchanges you would barely be left with a short story.
But plot development is the least of this novel’s problems. Fiction lives and dies by its characters, and The Punch Escrow has none to speak of. Don’t get me wrong, there are human-like entities present, all of whom have jobs and backstories and use language to communicate with each other, but the novel mistakes these basic descriptive requirements and behavioral traits for actual character development. Their sole reason for existing seems to be to dispense either snark or plot information. Joel is the protagonist, I guess, because he does both. Character choices and responses are obvious and predictable. I find it unfortunate that a novel positing that technology can reduce human beings to nothing more than exchangeable bits of information fails to depict a single recognizably human character as a counterpoint.
The setting feels just as inorganic and contrived as the characters, as if the author plugged some data into a random science fiction future generator and this was the result. In terms of theme, the novel seems to mistake presenting the implications of its premise for actually exploring those implications. I can’t fault the novel for failing to live up to its ambitions when it clearly doesn’t even know what it means to try. Mr. Klein’s prose has that really distracting, hyperactive attention deficit style that is becoming more and more popular among new writers (and readers) of genre fiction, a trend that portends no less than the death of the art form.
In short, beyond a handful of clever quips and an interesting scientific nugget here and there, I can’t find much of anything to redeem this novel.

Even though I picked up "The Punch Escrow" for the teleportation mishaps, my favorite parts of the book were in the details: Joel's day-job as a "salter" and the various types of AI. Salting:

"Every choice [computers] came to could only be based on data and algorithms that had been preprogrammed into them. That's not to say computers couldn't get new ideas, but every new idea they got could only come from remixing old ideas, or external input from other computers, or through human input—which is where I came in.

"We salters spent our days coming up with arbitrary puzzles that AI engines couldn't grok. Every time a salter's gambit was not anticipated by an app, that app got smarter by adding the unanticipated random logic set to its decision algorithm, and the salter got paid. Essentially, I made my living by being a smartass to apps." (Loc 229)

The sassy, back-talking computer is a staple of sci-fi (especially sci-fi that tries to be funny), but it feels more gimmicky than real. "The Punch Escrow" takes a cleverer approach by showing Joel outsmart apps to teach them nuances of language such as double entendres and humor. Seeing various types of AI (rooms, vehicles, personal assistants) analyze Joel's requests and wordplay is satisfying. Each responds in its own way according to its programming and function. There is more thought and care in these scenes than I expected from the outset. From the blurb, I worried the book would verge on silly/slapdash as Joel ran around cracking one-liners. Instead, the salting scenes occur naturally as Joel struggles to return to his wife.

Self-described "smartass" characters can either be fun or prompt much eye-rolling. Smartassery is something that must be conveyed through a character's dialogue and actions; as soon as a first-person narrator describes him/herself as smart, witty, or clever they aren't. Joel's braggy nature brings him close to this line, but he became more self-aware just as he approached my last nerve. Once there's a second Joel running around ("Joel²"), Joel evaluates some of his own personality traits the way an outsider might and draws the same conclusions as the reader. In these self-aware moments, he reminisces about his wife. Given that Joel's internal monologue carries the book (and there are two of him), other characters drift to the background. Joel's musings on Sylvia keep her around and develop her character despite her limited screentime. Joel's overall goal is to find her, and this isn't a compelling quest unless the reader invests in their relationship.

Some of the early reviews play up the "hard sci-fi" angle, and while "The Punch Escrow" certainly qualifies as such, it's not as technical as you might think. Complicated explanations are filtered through Joel's no-nonsense style, and his analogies make the connections between the science and plot simple to follow. Klein strikes a good balance: there's enough science to legitimize the story, but not so much that Joel stoops to lecturing. There are philosophical and ethical dilemmas sprinkled throughout, too. Alas, my anti-spoilers policy...

Overall: 4.4  There is one minor issue that might be a plot hole, but I've got my fingers crossed it'll be handled in the other books (a sequel and prequel). (If not, you'll hear about it then.) The climax is a bit formulaic, but it'll play well if "The Punch Escrow" is made into a movie. Quick note on formatting: I'd recommend a print copy over an ebook due to the number/length of the footnotes. Personally, I find it easier to flip around a paper copy than a ebook.

NB: This book was provided for review by the publisher, Inkshares Geek & Sundry (via NetGalley).

Wow! This was a real surprise. The Punch Escrow should probably be your next summer sci-fi read.

Joel and his wife Sylvia are about to go on a relationship-repairing anniversary trip to Costa Rica when a terrorist attack throws their lives into an existential spiral. In this future the main form of transportation is a hard science-fiction version of "teleportation". The attack unleashes an ethical, scientific, and philosophical conspiracy Joel and Sylvia must escape or risk letting all of civilization slip into chaos.

There's a ton I ended up loving about this book. I'll admit, I was a little unsure at first. But by about a third of the way through I was hooked. By the end, I couldn't put it down! The story is told through Joel's point of view. He's just sarcastic enough to be a funny, refreshing narrator with out being alienating. I questioned this POV choice at the beginning but it ends up making sense in the end. Which is something that happened pretty often in this book; something I questioned being satisfactorily justified. So I encourage any potential readers to stick with it if you find yourself in a similar situation.

As the plot unfolds Klein tries to build his world and characters to mostly successful results. While I am not a quantum physicist, the science here seems very well researched and believable. The concept of teleportation is presented in an interesting and convincing way as are many of the future technology ideas. Especially as the plot twists and turns a bit. Much of the evolution of current tech seems not only plausible but even natural. Klein is also very good at mixing the humor, drama, action, and think-y bits together. There are only a few moments here that feel redundant. And, honestly, they are quick and sometimes help as a bit of a summary of "the-story-thus-far". This isn't an overly long novel, but sometimes it can be easy to forget just how much has happened at a couple of points.

This is a good book. I'm a fan. And I really wish I could give this five stars. I really, really do. Hell, I'm tempted to just do it. But unfortunately, I feel very strongly about one thing: footnotes in novels. Klein uses footnotes often to attempt to further build his version of the future. In these footnotes is usually a fairly fleshed out explanation of a concept or practice. Which in itself is not a problem as the details are usually pretty interesting. But my problem with the formatting choice is pretty major: In virtually every instance of this that I can remember, the same information is presented in a simpler form within the narrative! I found this to be infuriating and fail to see why both the author and his editor would agree that it's better to break-up the flow of the prose instead of just incorporating these amended details within. Its very distracting and unnecessary (and a bit pretentious). BUT, while I hate this formatting decision, do not let this stop you from reading this book.

I this has the potential to be a big hit. This is a smart, exciting, action packed debut that could end up being the next big title in new sci-fi.

I had the opportunity to read this book pre-release, which was a great experience. The premise of the book is that in the future the world has undergone massive changes such that corporations rule the world, not individual country governments. Along with this, there are fringe groups that are religious lead that oppose the current situation. One of the religious groups causes a terrorist event, which drives the plot of the story.

I appreciated the attention to scientific detail the author went through to come up with theories how the future would work. The hard physics theories included made for an intelligent fiction read. My issue with the story was the use of footnotes at almost every theory/thought to explain the idea or backstory. It got REALLY cumbersome to read the story line when I kept having to read these large footnotes to get the backstory. Also, at the end of the day, the basic story line is boy doesn't appreciate girl, girl almost dies so boy "wakes up" to the fact he might lose said girl, so then boy reacts and finally shows some initiative in their relationship.

It's a good story, and I'm hoping the formatting may get better before release

This is one of the most fun books I've read this year. It's hard sci-fi with a hefty dose of humor, and I can totally imagine it as a movie (stylistically and tonally, it would probably be, like, Fight Club meets Joss Whedon).

Klein makes the science seem plausible, as well as the details and development of the future-world. This is due largely to the sardonic narrative voice of the main character, Joel Byram, as he attempts to navigate a very sticky situation in which he finds himself. The forces of corporate greed, religious mania, and simple but strong love are all given their weight -- plus violence, talking AI, and footnotes of comedy gold. It's quite a balancing act for a first novel. I should also mention that there was not a single character that I didn't like.

So why not 5 stars? Well, I debated, but there were a couple of things that took me down a notch. Firstly, while the constant references to (and literal plot insertions of) 1980s pop music are very amusing to someone like me, a child of the 1980s, they do get to be a bit much. And I don't think they're adequately explained in the book beyond "future person Joel Byram just so happens to love that old, obscure 1980s music". It's more likely that "author Tal M. Klein just so happens to love 1980s music" and just couldn't help himself. Again, subjectively, the music brought a lot to my brain-movie of this book, but objectively, anyone of a different age than Klein or myself may not dig it. Secondly, although I did mention that I liked all of the characters, there are a couple of moments wherein they hit the line of racial/national caricature. They don't necessarily cross it, but your mileage may vary.

Overall I really liked this and would definitely recommend it. I'll be curious to see what Klein comes up with next.

With dizzying inventiveness, Tal M. Klein’s sci-fi and sci-fantastic The Punch Escrow rivals the best of Wells and Bradbury in ideas per page. This is an incredibly smart, witty, imaginative 22nd century thriller that is ostensibly about teleportation in the future gone awry, but ultimately a sly, speculative warning shot about our insatiable (and unsustainable) need for technological advancement in the hands of corporate interests. If I’m making this sound like a slog of a science lesson/cautionary tale, it’s anything but. Sure the novel is annotated throughout as Klein footnotes each technological future marvel with definitions and scientific explanation, but nothing here is obtuse; this is pure fun and the story barrels along as we follow Joel Byram (an app salter, don’t worry, Klein will explain), his wife Sylvia (a high level employee at a teleportation company that controls more than just travel in the future), and Joel Byram (yep, Joel again…) between New York, rendered in brilliant futuristic clarity, and Costa Rica on a vacation that goes horribly wrong during teleportation. I found each imaginative detail in Klein’s novel delightful and, dare I say, more prescient than not. Klein creates such a vivid, rich future in this novel that it’s Hollywood’s loss if they don’t snap this up and spin this into cinematic gold. Highly recommended.

The Punch Escrow by Tal M. Klein
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley for this ARC!

And a very special thanks to the author for writing Hard-SF in a really fun and engaging way. This is often much harder than it might seem at a casual glance.

Fortunately, the light tone and the clear explanations of the science prevailed and served only to propel the story forward. And what kind of story is it? It's a fast-paced thriller! And no, before you ask, this isn't a clone of Dark Matter. Far from it. We're dealing with a better version of Star Trek's transporter problem from a quantum entanglement viewpoint, and far from getting bogged down in an introductory reading of such a story, (which has been done a lot), we jump right ahead into the social and technological implications of a society that has come to accept it and the actuarial realities of checksumming your torrented self across great distances. How boring, right? But boring gets people moving, and moving, and moving... aaaand ... I really shouldn't spoil this, but all the cool stuff happens after the poop hits the fan from after this point.

Copy, paste, delete. We know the concept. No problem. Now skip the last step. Hello, me! :)

The author carries two PoV's wonderfully and keeps it light even when really bad things are happening. I loved it, from the marital problems to the chase, the ambulance, the AI, the conspiracy, the nutjobs AND the nutjobs, and of course, arguing with yourself. :) I like to think that I wouldn't have any such problems with myself, but let's be realistic here. A perfect teleportation clone is going to be competing with your resources right off the bat. There's a lot of real conflicts right there.

So, bravo! for keeping it real.

This was a very nice surprise. I asked for this one just on a whim and I am very pleased I did. I totally recommend this for all kinds of clone-fans who love thrillers. This one happens to be a lot better than most and I can say it feels rather more original than most. PLUS! It has the benefit of sticking close to real science to the best of our current understanding!

The same goes for all the multitudes of the great little idea-gems we visit in this future world. The carbon-sucking mosquitos are a delight. So are the self-driving cars that alert each other on emergency channels whenever some monkey is taking the wheel. :) Scary. :)

I received an e-ARC of this novel through NetGalley and Inkshares Geek & Sundry. Thank you.

This was a wonderful reading experience and the mix of humor with science - with an added twist of adventure - made me want to put everything else aside to see what Joel was into now.

This story takes place in 2147. Freight teleportation began first (not slowed down at all by the loss of one of the art world's practically sacred icons), but by 2126 human teleportation had become commercialized by one of the largest corporations in the world, International Transport. (See, we can blame it all on IT!) Joel Byram's wife Sylvia works for IT and has been so consumed by a new project that it has caused some serious stress on their marriage. The plan is for the two of them to teleport to Costa Rica for a second honeymoon. Sylvia leaves first (because only one person can go at a time) and a few seconds later Joel's teleportation process begins. So why does Joel regain consciousness after being given a huge electric shock to find himself not in Costa Rica but in a room with three people he doesn't know and without the ability to use his comms? The story is told by Joel as a way for him to explain to people in the future how he found out there was a dirty little secret about teleportation and a huge global corporation would do whatever it took to keep that secret hidden. This is Big Technology against Religious Fanatics and, yes, the capital letters are necessary.

The book is very much science fiction with the insertion of humor making it a thoroughly enjoyable experience. The author has done this one right because everything from the monetary system to the medical science to global governing has moved far ahead of our present world. Joel is definitely not going to impress as a standard hero of a novel except that you understand that he is basically a very good guy, he just lets his attitude and sarcasm get him into all kinds of trouble. Tal M. Klein did such a good job with the science of explaining what the Punch Escrow is that even I understand where he was going with it. There is good hard science involved in telling the story and making it plausible but it is also filled with lighter moments of humor and plot twists that keep readers wondering what - or where - in the world the book will go next.

Grab this one if you like something really different to read. Grab this one if you like science fiction. Grab this one if you want to feel like you've been on a big, impossible adventure. In short, just grab this one because it's such a darn good book!