Connect - by Julian Gough (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

In the Nevada desert, in the near future, a brilliant biologist and single mother named Naomi Chiang sets off a chain reaction that threatens to bring the networked world to its knees. When her seventeen-year-old son, Colt, who spends most of his time in the comfort of virtual reality, secretly releases her latest findings--a process for regrowing human tissue--Colt's estranged father crashes into their lives again, backed by the secretive security organization he heads. The U.S. government wants Naomi's research . . . and her son, who must leave the virtual sphere to discover the pleasures--and pains--of a life fully lived. Page-turning and thought-provoking, Connect is a whip-smart novel that explores what connection--both human and otherwise--might be in a digital age. It is a story of mothers and sons; but it is also about you, your phone, and the world to come.

Review Quotes

"Absurdly brilliant. . . . A mind-expanding technothriller with a hotly beating human heart." --Emma Donoghue, bestselling author of Room

"Dazzling. . . . Propulsive and engrossing." --The Guardian

"Propulsively paced and ingeniously twisting. . . . A hyperactive, adrenaline-junkie dystopian thriller." --The Times (London)

"A wonderful novel, a tour de force." --Joseph O'Connor, author of Star of the Sea

"Unfolds in the deadly but jaunty style of a Hollywood action thriller . . . A gonzo hybrid between The Matrix and Fifty Shades of Grey, written in its best moments with the pace and wit of Dave Eggers's The Circle." --The Observer (London)

"Instantly convincing. . . . Powerful, playful. . . . What feels so fresh is that this predictive novel avoids even a hint of the usual doomsday clichés. . . . Connect will subtly change the way you see the world." --The Sunday Times (London)

"Connect really is a work of genius. It confronts and explores the nature of humanness and existence in a thrilling, immersive, addictive way, and marks Julian Gough out as a prophet among writers." --Donal Ryan, author of The Spinning Heart

"Imagines a world of systems within systems in which the alteration of a few human cells could have far-reaching and astounding effects on the universe. Recommended for those who enjoy near-future speculation coupled with an engaging and effective exploration of a fractured family." --Booklist

"A teenager rewires his brain to ramp up his cognitive skills in this near-future techno-thriller. . . . Thought-provoking." --Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Julian Gough is the author of the novels Juno & Juliet, Jude in Ireland, Jude in London, and Connect; a poetry collection, Free Sex Chocolate; three children's books; and the narrative ending the computer game Minecraft. A winner of the BBC National Short Story Award and the Prix Livrentête, he has been shortlisted twice for the Everyman Bollinger Wodehouse Prize, once for a Sainsbury's Children's Book Award, and twice for an Irish Book of the Year Award. He lives in Berlin.