Description

From the bestselling author of Fight Club comes Shock Induction, a sharply unsettling satire described by The Toronto Star as a “dark satire about the inhuman condition.” This gripping novel explores the strange disappearances of outstanding high school students, the hidden decadence and corruption of billionaire society, and the deeply unsettling decisions individuals must make when faced with an uncertain future.

At a prestigious high school, the brightest and most promising students are mysteriously vanishing one by one, each disappearance initially labeled as yet another tragic suicide. But beneath the surface, something far darker and more sinister unfolds. Unbeknownst to them, these students have been carefully observed and evaluated since birth through an insidious online program called “Greener Pastures.” Through this elite, secretive platform, billionaires privately monitor, measure and ultimately select students for recruitment, buying young minds at an obscene cost as intellectual workers for the rest of their lives.

With billions of dollars on the table—and a lifetime surrendered to wealthy and powerful patrons—the line between a gift and a curse blurs dangerously. In a darkly imaginative high school only Chuck Palahniuk could conceive, students grapple with a difficult decision between pursuing dreams or securing guaranteed fortune—and discover the unsettling truth that their choices may never have truly been theirs to make.

A provocative narrative and incisive critique on contemporary culture, Shock Induction pushes readers to question society’s illusion of choice, exploring the devastating decisions forced upon us by power, privilege and sinister control.