Cloud isn’t just a place to work. It’s a place to live. And when you’re here, you’ll never want to leave. 

Paxton never thought he’d be working for Cloud, the giant tech company that’s eaten much of the American economy. Much less that he’d be moving into one of the company’s sprawling live-work facilities. 

But compared to what’s left outside, Cloud’s bland chainstore life of gleaming entertainment halls, open-plan offices, and vast warehouses…well, it doesn’t seem so bad. It’s more than anyone else is offering. 

Zinnia never thought she’d be infiltrating Cloud. But now she’s undercover, inside the walls, risking it all to ferret out the company’s darkest secrets. And Paxton, with his ordinary little hopes and fears? He just might make the perfect pawn. If she can bear to sacrifice him. 

As the truth about Cloud unfolds, Zinnia must gamble everything on a desperate scheme—one that risks both their lives, even as it forces Paxton to question everything about the world he’s so carefully assembled here. 

Together, they’ll learn just how far the company will go…to make the world a better place. 

Set in the confines of a corporate panopticon that’s at once brilliantly imagined and terrifyingly real, The Warehouse is a near-future thriller about what happens when Big Brother meets Big Business–and who will pay the ultimate price.

I’ll be honest – although this book description intrigued me, it was Blake Crouch’s recommendation that made me want to read this novel.  After finishing, I had to sit with it a few days because I honestly didn’t know how I felt about it.

Few people will read this description and not immediately think of Amazon.  The Warehouse is a cautionary tale, albeit extreme, that paints a harrowing futuristic picture.  Cloud controls or has influence over nearly everything – the business environment, laws, politics.  Seemingly nothing is out of its reach.

I didn’t particularly care about these characters, but their moral ambiguity was intriguing and held me enthralled.  Paxton harbors feelings of anger and retribution after his small business is crushed by Cloud – and yet he finds himself working for the tech company.  Zinnia will sacrifice anything or anyone to accomplish her goals.  And Gibson Wells, the multi-billionaire owner of Cloud, truly believes everything he’s done has made the world a better place.

This is a well-paced thriller with some suprising plot twists, and the sections showing the monotony of Paxton’s and Zinnia’s lives are brilliant.  The Warehouse is undoubtedly one of the most thought-provoking books I’ve read this year.  It will leave you feeling unsettled, and I guarantee you’ll still be thinking about it days after reading.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.