Very much a book that will make you uncomfortable, get you thinking about our present and our future and entertain you at the same time. This is the type of thing you are already thinking about or something new for you. Either way, prepare yourself for some vigorous conversations when discussing this book. The subject matter is throwing a not very subtle dart at the huge businesses in our world today without ever really naming names. I spent way too much time at the beginning trying to nail down the corporation as Amazon. I now think this isn't just about Amazon, it's any mega corporation, but most of us will have no problems equating Cloud (the business in this novel) with Amazon.

The novel is presented from the viewpoints of Gibson, the multi-multi-multi billionaire owner of Cloud and two new employees, Paxton (a blue shirt designating security) and Zinnia (a red shirt indicating a product picker). Lives in this book are actually reduced to the color of polo shirt you wear for your job. I was hammered throughout the novel with how helpless the Cloud employees are and how people come to be immersed in the corporate thinking so easily because they trust Cloud totally. How insidious is Cloud's hunger to control everything and everybody. Zinnia is a corporate spy on a mission from an unknown employer to infiltrate Cloud and plant a device to hack into the computer system. Her job is going to be much harder than she knew because once inside a MotherCloud every second of your day is monitored. Zinnia needs to find a way to beat the Cloud system. Paxton was desperate for employment so he managed to get hired. He didn't want to work in security after 15 years as a prison guard, but with Cloud it's either take what's offered or leave - not necessarily with any transportation provided so your likelihood of walking through the desert like conditions outside to an inhabited settlement of some kind becomes a very dicey problem. Cloud is good, Cloud is great, but just wait until you discover what's going on in the background.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for an e-Galley of this novel.

The convenience of online retail comes with its own particular costs, as well as some big secrets in Rob Hart's The Warehouse.

With the world in an extreme state with an inhospitable climate and limited job opportunities, securing a position within a Cloud facility is incredibly sought after as Cloud claims to be making the world a better place, even if Cloud contributed to the ruination of smaller businesses. Former entrepreneurial CEO turned prison guard Paxton hadn't anticipated working in Security for Cloud, but circumstances drove him to applying for and accepting this job, with the goal of it being short-term. While being transported to the live-work Cloud facility Paxton meets the intriguing Zinnia, who gives him hope that the impending future won't be so bleak. Zinnia, however, has a very different motive for working at Cloud - she's there to spy on the company and find information about how they could possibly be generating enough power to run the facility and in the process of infiltrating she uncovers some unsavory secrets. 

A fascinating imagining of a near-future potentiality where one corporation monopolizes society, the story provokes thought on the use of services and delivery providers, such as Amazon, and how it impacts local economies and the general well-being of a population. Though most of us are already easily tracked through our various smart devices, the concept that a corporation would track and regulate the movement and behaviors of people in a manner similar to Cloud with their CloudBand is utterly frightening. While there was a sense established that all is not what it seems on the surface at Cloud, the rapidity with which the horrors are unveiled seemed a little rushed as the novel drew to a close; however, the story moved swiftly and was otherwise well-developed with the various perspectives provided between Paxton, Zinnia, Cloud creator Gibson Wells, and miscellaneous updates or messages allowing for a rather comprehensive picture of the situation. 

Overall, I'd give it a 4 out of 5 stars.

The Warehouse: A Novel by [Hart, Rob]

A super-fun thriller that doubles as social commentary. Recommended.



Review copy provided by publisher.

Crown Publishing and Netgalley were kind enough to let me read this title before it publishes. Zinnia and Paxton start working for Cloud at the same time. They also eventually develop a semi-romantic interest in each other. Cloud sells all kinds of good that are delivered to their customers. Zinnia wears a red shirt there which means she picks those goods off the never-ending shelves.

Paxton, who dons a blue shirt, works in security because his previous position was at a prison. Other departments wear different colored shirts so everyone is divided by what they do. They have some very strict rules and are tracked by a watch they wear. It also opens doors that are available to them.

I did enjoy this book, but felt so much more could have been with this topic. It was also disconcerting that Cloud was patterned after Amazon. I live near Seattle and Amazon is not where employees are given everything they need so they never have to leave the campus. That’s more of a Microsoft thing.

I could easily visualizing this becoming a movie and I’d definitely go to see it.

It’s a tale of greed, of one man using humans for his own gain and maybe some retribution. I definitely recommend it.

This book will likely stick with me for a long time--I'll certainly be thinking about it every time I order something off of Amazon and wonder, "What is the real cost of receiving this item on my doorstep within a day?" "Who really paid that price?"

I thought this was a great read and can see why it was quickly optioned for film. However I fear that, as-is, this book won't make a great movie. Ultimately what's disturbing about this story is the shades of gray--how easily it can be for companies who want to do good to quietly shift into policies and operations that can be quite harmful, greedy, and ultimately evil. It's the subtlety of that shift--and how often it happens in real life--that haunts you after reading this book.

Problem is, Hollywood tends to never stick the landing of "shades of gray" villains, opting instead for classic "big bads" audiences can easily root for/against. I would hate it if they alter this story to make it more palatable for a mass audience. But I'd put money on some of the reveals at the end of the book to be taken to a more extreme end in a movie version.

NOTE FOR EDITORS: During a conversation between Gibson and Zinna at the 93% point of the book, there is an error and the conversation suddenly mis-labels Gibson as Paxton. "That...would change the world,' she said, a little spark of hope flaring in her center..." "It will change the world,' Paxton said, 'as good as we've done with green energy, there are still pockets of gas and coal.'" (Paxton is in another room during this conversation)

Thanks to the author and NetGalley for granting me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was given to me by NetGalley for an honest review.

This book definitely surprised me. When I read the synopsis, I thought the company Cloud was going to be very similar to Amazon. After the news stories that broke last year, it made sense that this book would show the downsides of one company monopolizing every market. It was way better than that and delved deeper.

I enjoyed reading this book from beginning to end. I kept waiting for a twist because there are sections from the perspective of the man who created Cloud. He seemed like a good person, but then again most people are good in their own eyes. But from the other two perspectives, working for the company seemed like hell. They got less than minimum wage, were monitored at every turn, and lived in tiny apartments. So it was really interesting to see the different sides of what was happening.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I won't spoil anything, but the ending made me like it even more. I definitely plan on checking out more of Hart's books in the future, because if their anything to this caliber and this interesting, I know I will like them.

This book is creepy because the premise is very real. Technology is a great thing, but most people have abused it and now it's found a way to abuse US. This novel demonstrates that theory.

I enjoyed Gibson's chapters the best. He has a conversational, reflective, philosophical Southern-drawl tone, like he's writing to you as a friend or close confidante. Zinnia is a strong, smart, savvy female with bad-ass martial arts moves. Paxton has integrity, morals, ethics, and is a generally good guy. They are all likeable characters.

The details of the Cloud company, the jobs, the sprawling campus, and the warehouse are vivid and impressive. The Cloud is one employer that you don't want to mess with! I often can't visualize science fiction books because they leave you up to your imagination (mine is admittedly flat), but this book is extremely descriptive. The science fiction is very realistic and the writing made me feel like I was there.

This book is about secrets, choices, dying, data, tracking, sexual harassment, succession, love, family, hierarchy, survival, and friendship. It's an easy read and a quick pace. It rates high on the un-put-downable scale and it has a cloak-and-dagger vibe. It makes you wonder if tech giants like Amazon really tracks us this closely, because they can. The ending is good, and it has some unexpected twists that were very satisfying. I loved it.

The Warehouse is going to be a instant classic! It's a prophetic warning about what happens when we give big business and charismatic CEOs so much control that they end up replacing our own governments. 

Hart examines how far people are willing to go in the name of getting the best prices. In the book, workers are so desperate for jobs that they are willing to give up ALL their liberties for stability, security, and a paycheck to work and live at a distribution facility. I thought the storyline was excellent, but kept getting caught up in the landscape in which it takes place. It felt real...and scary. 

Here's one of my favorite passages:

"Let me tell you something about [The Warehouse]. They are the choice we made. We gave them control. When they decided to buy up the grocery stores, we let them. When they decided to take over farming operations, we let them. When they decided to take over media outlets, and the internet providers, and the cell phones company, we let them. We were told it would mean better prices...we lived with stories about this. Brave New World and 1984 and Fight Club. We celebrated these stories while ignoring the message."

*I've included a copy of this review on Good Reads and my monthly reading newsletter that goes out to 4.2k subscribers.

Huxley (Brave New World) and Orwell (1984) are smiling, wherever they may be.

Why? Because The Warehouse, by Rob Hart, is right in their wheelhouse. It’s a dystopian novel in which a corporation named ‘Cloud’ has smothered most other businesses into oblivion. They can’t compete against Cloud’s predatory pricing, against the pressure of immediate delivery of any product, by drone, or against Cloud’s copying and undercutting of products at their earliest stages of development. Now business districts are literal wastelands, grass growing through the concrete, every store boarded up or sitting fallow, hot dust blowing through the empty streets. Employment can only be found at Cloud warehouses, where workers must labor, eat, sleep and live, 24 hours a day, continuously monitored through their ID bracelets, which offer or deny access to all resources and areas within the facility.

Within this environment, two protagonists pursue their beleaguered lives - a dispassionate, single-minded corporate spy, Zinnia, whose mission is to determine the energy source that powers the unbelievably large complexes of cinder block warehouses, dorms, and services, each requiring much more power than the grid could possibly supply, and a compassionate and outgoing everyman figure, Paxton, whose small independent business was extinguished when Cloud charged too much to sell his product, cut out all other distribution avenues, then stole the product while it was in the patent stage. The systemic venality of Cloud, from its total disregard of the welfare of its employees to its constant surveillance and control over them, is the force that each tries to overcome before its relentlessness grinds them down into puddles of drool on the warehouses’ linoleum floors.

Zinnia has a cover job as a red-shirted ‘picker’, constantly running through the miles of aisles, picking newly purchased goods off the storage shelves and delivering them to conveyor belts while trying to meet quotas and severe time limits. The mindlessness of the job allows her to ponder how to get around the constant surveillance and control imposed by the CloudBand bracelet. Paxton is assigned a job like one he has held in the past, but hated - a position as a blue-shirted security guard. Of course, in the time-honored tradition of dystopic fiction, the protagonists only gradually learn the startling truths behind their circumstances.

The Warehouse wonderfully reflects classical science fiction alarms about the dire consequences of encroaching predatory corporations and their greedy and amoral billionaire owners. I’m sure the producers of the movie Soylent Green and Pohl and Kornbluth (The Space Merchants) are smiling at least as broadly as Huxley and Orwell.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Rob Hart has written a novel about a possible future in the business world. He sets up a scenario where today's shifts in commerce become magnified and than frightening. The type of change in the way we do business has evolved over the last several centuries. It began with what has been termed the Industrial Revolution in which the small shop employing a few people making products on a scale geared to lower sales turned into giant companies employing thousands turning out thousands of these same products. Costs are lower and so are the prices. The problem is the stultifying work involved doing the same thing hour after hour from one day to the next.
The Warehouse is a well done glimpse into a world where one gigantic company known as the Cloud supplies most of the wants of it's myriad customers with almost anything they may require. Mr Hart envisions the Cloud as employing hundreds of thousands in a work environment that includes those hired living within the area controlled by the company. They work there,they live there they eat there and spend all their time on it's premises.
Paxton is a man that had started his own business but failed when the product he was trying to sell could not obtain a patent. He managed to get a job with the Cloud and feels very grateful for it. Zinnia, a pretty young lady also gets a job but she is there being paid by an outside group to do damage to the company by finding it's secrets. She is fit for this job because she has done it in other situations with success.
Paxton and Zinnia do meet with him falling in love with her. On the other hand Zinnia thinks of Paxton as a means of ferreting out information due to his fast rise at the Cloud. Taken by themselves the problems and worries of the two make for a very fascinating story and are well worth the read. But, of course there is more involved. The Cloud is a company that has become larger and more powerful than many countries and is a law unto itself. The prediction by the author certainly is a good guess in a novel that is a 1984 look alike. The fact is that with the advent of selling on the internet as a way of operating costs of doing business for formerly huge stores are too high to really compete with an operation that does not need to have a place geared to walk in trade.
The Warehouse in addition to the story of Paxton and Zinnia and their meeting is also thought provoking since the premise of a huge company becoming more powerful than their government is very visible in today's business area. A very well done look at what could be our near future fate.

A dystopian Orwellian novel about the threat not just of business monopoly, but of the sinister indoctrination of subservience while being fed the propaganda of freedom through service.

Rob Hart has a really great writing style that should make this story accessible to everyone. If you like story lines along the “The Hunger Games” route or “1984”, you’ll find an ally in “The Warehouse” which takes place in a world where catastrophe has occurred, little pieces of that puzzle being laid as the story continues. But the thing left standing is the company Cloud, a retail composite that has roots in reality.

So to work for the Cloud is to guarantee a good life…or so it seems.

Former business owner, ex-prison guard, Paxton applies and gets a job at Cloud. At the same time, so does the mysterious Zinnia.

Both are on different paths working for the company. Patrick hopes one thing, but Zinnia has an endgame that involves Patrick after being hired to infiltrate the company,

But as the two grow closer, so do the disturbing secrets the Cloud’s buildings hold, the never-ending hallways leading to conspiracy upon conspiracy, and a hierarchy that proposes freedom but could mean anything but.

The Cloud rewards for their service, but it wants too much in return as Paxton and Zinnia are about to find out. Information is more than power – it’s control.

What’s truly frightening about this book is just how much reality is in this psychological thriller despite it taking place in an alternative universe. It’s odd how we see dystopian books and celebrate them and yet not heed the lessons. Hart shows what happens if we continue to do that.

Written with an ease of conversation and through different points-of-view like those of Paxton, Zinnia, the company itself, and training videos to name a few- one includes the enigmatic leader of Cloud, Gibson Wells, whose chilling blog excerpts show a justification of a process that left unchecked is putting the world in danger. How morals are in the eye of the beholder. How the beholder can leave everyone blind to the truth.

All the answers come in to a disturbing ending that may have you thinking twice about the era of convenience and with questions to ponder after the last page.

Thank you to Bantam Press, Crown, and NetGalley for early access to this novel due August 13th.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an arc copy of The Warehouse in exchange for an honest opinion. Review to come!

I really liked, and was terrified by, this book. It seems all too plausible to see this kind of set up actually being real. And the kind of people who would populate this place, from managers to employees and even the super secret back room types.
There were parts of the story that lagged a bit, but I really enjoyed the book. Some of the best stuff was not so much the action, but the language. This author sure does know how to write for the more self serving in our society.
The sanctimonious hypocrisy of the founders was sooo familiar, i loved the pickle parable, the 'owners of the means of production, thanks mr. marx, and all the other clever references. All designed to justify the oppressive control of the Cloud.
Although I have to confess the Cloud burger source was a favorite.

I can see how this story would lend itself to a movie, it will be interesting to see how it's made.
Fun to read, pretty fast- and utterly justifies my reluctance to deal with Amazon.

This novel imagines a world of global warming and Amazon taken to extremes. Corporate spy, company control of all aspects of your life, lots of familiar elements. The story, too, fell a bit flat for me.

What one word describes feel about this book? Disappointment. There were all the makings of a great story: a man who owns a company bigger and better than Amazon, a man who is bitter because that giant company effectively stole his invention, and a corporate spy. There was a lot of potential. Instead the just plodded along with me most times having to force myself to read it. Obviously the author has talent- the plot line was very creative- but the execution was just bad.

Ahoy there me mateys!  I received this sci-fi eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  So here be me honest musings . . .

the warehouse (Rob Hart)

Title: the warehouse

Author: Rob Hart

Publisher: Crown Publishing

Publication Date: TODAY!! (hardcover/e-book)

ISBN: 978-1984823793

Source: NetGalley

This book was a very fast read with a bit of an agenda against big business and guns.  The setting is in a company called "Cloud" which is basically a stand-in for Amazon.  So what happens when Amazon takes over the world?  This book is an excellent look at a very negative future where this occurs.

In this story ye follow two folks.  Paxton was a small business owner until Amazon . . . I mean the Cloud . . . forced him out because he couldn't compete with the pricing and contracts.  And then, with limited options, Paxton has no real choice but to take a job with said Cloud.  He goes in with the hope of getting some kind of revenge.  Only he has no idea what kind or even how to go about it.

Zinna is focused, driven, and on a mission.  Money is at stake and so she is determined to get into Cloud, finish her task, and get back out again.  But success is more elusive than she would like.  She discovers that Paxton may be the key to accomplishing her goal.  But both Paxton and Zinna find that their time within the Cloud and with each other starts to change the way they view the world and their places in it.

The Cloud itself was kinda fascinating.  The company is set up to be a utopia.  Employees live, work, and play in one complex.  It was designed to "save America" and be geared towards worker's rights.  Only, like in most utopias, human greed, sloth, and apathy get in the way.

Both the systems in place and how they are failing were interestingly juxtaposed.  Part of this was in the employee structure.  Zinnia finds herself in one of the lowest positions, a picker responsible for putting ordered goods on the correct conveyor.  Paxton finds himself in security and in the midst of bureaucratic politics and power struggles.  Neither wants the roles they have been given.  I absolutely loved following their thoughts, daily struggles, and shifts in emotions towards the Cloud and each other.

The utopian ideals are wonderfully portrayed in the form of blog entries from the dying company founder.  Interspersed within the overall plot structure, these musings helped cement and articulate both the brilliant veneer and the seedy reality.  This only furthers the absurdity and desperation of this version of future America.

I really did find this book to be a fun and slightly alarming look in the potential future of big business.  The negative for me was the last several chapters of how Zinna's mission resolves and the subplot of revolt.  Neither of these elements worked in terms of plot resolution.  It felt too Hollywood in its ending and I would have preferred a much more nuanced take.  The ending in particular fell completely flat.  For all of me dislike of the end of the book, the concepts, characters, and Cloud made it totally worth reading.

And for the record, I love Amazon.   Arrrr!

So lastly . . .

Thank you Crown Publishing!

Goodreads has this to say about the novel:

Gun violence, climate change and unemployment have ravaged the United States beyond recognition.

Amidst the wreckage, an online retail giant named Cloud reigns supreme. Cloud brands itself not just as an online storefront, but as a global saviour. Yet, beneath the sunny exterior, lurks something far more sinister.

Paxton never thought he’d be working Security for the company that ruined his life, much less that he’d be moving into one of their sprawling live-work facilities. But compared to what’s left outside, perhaps Cloud isn’t so bad. Better still, through his work he meets Zinnia, who fills him with hope for their shared future.

Except that Zinnia is not what she seems. And Paxton, with his all-access security credentials, might just be her meal ticket. As Paxton and Zinnia’s agendas place them on a collision course, they’re about to learn just how far the Cloud will go to make the world a better place.

To beat the system, you have to be inside it.

To visit the author’s website go to:

Rob Hart - Author

To buy the novel please visit:

the warehouse - Book

To add to Goodreads go to:

Yer Ports for Plunder List

disclaimer: i received a copy of this book via crown publishing in return for an honest review.

the warehouse was an engaging, relatively quick read. at several points i did the traditional (for me, at least) 'let's see what happens in one more chapter' dance.

author rob hart really excels at world building once you accept the idea that cloud *is* the world. and it's easy to embrace that concept given the direction that technology is headed in today's world.

part of what made it easy to accept the world and made the character development so engaging, was hart's focus on three main characters. of course there were other characters, but they were only supporting players in this journey.

there were a few events mentioned that occurred prior to cloud's real transition into the juggernaught it becomes that i'd have loved to have more details about, but i understand hart's decision to keep them murky.

the upside to all of this is a captivating story that juggles three first person points of view easily. the downside? it's absolutely easy to see a company like cloud in our lives, if not now then soon.

four out of five stars

Set in a slightly distant dystopian future - where an Amazon-like conglomerate controls everything - this book had me talking about it to friends and family. The premise is fascinating, and the structure of the story-telling is interesting. I did feel a little bit cheated at the end - where it seemed like everything was resolved in the last 2 chapters - but its been optioned to be developed into a film by Ron Howards' production company, so maybe the film will flesh that out more. Worth the read.
I provided this honest review in exchange for a free advance reader's copy.

Yikes! This was an eerie look at a kind of plausible future of Amazon meets The Circle with a little of the Doctor Who Kerblam! episode thrown in.

Two strangers apply for a job at Cloud. Cloud is an Amazon-like company where the consumer can order pretty much anything, and the product is whisked to them via a drone. Cloud is a self contained city within itself where the employees live, eat, and work. Paxton is hired and becomes a blue shirt, security. Zinnia is hired and becomes a red shirt, a picker.

Interspersed with Paxton and Zinnia's POV chapters are Gibson's chapters. Gibson is the gazillionaire that invented Cloud.

This story was definitely satirical, which I typically am not a big fan of, but in this case, I really enjoyed. It was a bit scary to see a possible future dystopian where this company takes over everything, including government. I found it very intriguing and inhaled this book!

One last note... Cloudburgers... Nom nom nom!

*Thank you to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for the advance copy!*

Book Review: The Warehouse
Author: Rob Hart
Publisher: Crown Publishing
Publication Date: August 20, 2019

Paxton, Zinnea, Gibson Wells, and all those working at the Cloud, a monster of a company. Almost frightening how close it hits home.