{"product_id":"halter","title":"Halter","description":"\u003cb\u003eCombining the inventive worldbuilding of Philip K. Dick and the elegiac longing of Raymond Chandler's \u003ci\u003eThe Long Goodbye\u003c\/i\u003e and for fans of \u003ci\u003eReady Player One\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eRabbits\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Halter\u003c\/i\u003e by Darby McDevitt (lead writer for \u003ci\u003eAssassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag\u003c\/i\u003e) is a debut sci-fi novel that fuses cyber-noir, psychological suspense, and high-concept speculation in a breakneck search for truth inside a utopian metaverse on the verge of collapse\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn a world where virtual addiction kills, Kennedy Stark is paid to pull the plug. A professional halter—part detective, part counselor—he trawls the world’s darkest surrogate-reality feeds in search of the lost. When he isn’t working, he’s dreaming of a one-way ticket to Mars, where a new colony has been established as a hopeful alternative to an Earth in the early stages of climate collapse.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e One evening, after a botched rescue attempt, a mysterious client offers Kennedy a tantalizing new case: brilliant software engineer Delia Walsh, who Kennedy fell in love with years ago, has disappeared inside a surrogate reality project called The Forum. Entering under an assumed identity, Kennedy finds a simulation unlike any other. The Forum bills itself as a tool for cutting-edge scientific research and radical philosophical investigations, but the signs of its corruption are everywhere. As Kennedy investigates, he learns Delia had been working on a new simulation that could upend The Forum’s primary purpose, and that even in this prurient playground for the super wealthy, the dangers are very real. \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eBrimming with black humor, hardboiled attitude, and a cast of endearing misfits lost in brittle fantasies, \u003ci\u003eThe Halter\u003c\/i\u003e introduces a charismatic detective and heralds a unique and assured new voice in sci-fi crime.","brand":"Diversion Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56414777114968,"sku":"9798895150887","price":19.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0278\/1295\/4195\/files\/9798895150887_f4f1109b-ea0a-48d0-9c2c-27e375c689bf.jpg?v=1778308281","url":"https:\/\/agendabookshop.com\/products\/halter","provider":"Agenda Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}