Description
'A work of genius' Donal Ryan
Nevada; the near future; a family in crisis
Biologist and single mother Naomi is worried about the impact her ground-breaking research might have on the world. And of the impact the world might have on her painfully awkward, home-schooled, ever-growing teenage son, Colt.
Colt is so brilliant he can code virtual realities our world hasn't even thought of yet; and so socially inept that he struggles to order takeaway pizza.
When Colt secretly sends his mother's breakthrough research paper to a biotech conference in New York, and the conference is closed down, Naomi's worst fears come true. Colt's father crashes back into their lives, backed by the secretive security organisation he heads. The US government wants Naomi's research . . . and Colt.
Colt will soon have to leave the comfort of his virtual reality world, and face the challenge of discovering who he really is.
And Naomi will have to decide how far she will go to protect her child. Would she kill a man? Would she destroy the world?
From one of the most original voices in Irish writing, Connect by Julian Gough is a thrillingly smart novel of ideas that explores what connection - both human and otherwise - might be in a digital age. It is a story of mothers and sons, but also about you, your phone, and the future.
A brilliantly and thrillingly smart novel of today and tomorrow, by one of the most original voices in Irish writing.
About the Author
Julian Gough is the author of three comic novels, the literary techno thriller, Connect, and was formerly the lead singer of the underground literary band Toasted Heretic. He won the BBC National Short Story Award in 2007 and was shortlisted for the Everyman Bollinger Wodehouse Prize in 2008 and 2012. In 2011 he wrote the ending to Minecraft, Time magazine's computer game of the year.
Praise for Julian Gough:
'Julian Gough is a wonderful writer' Sebastian Barry
'An outstanding talent' Observer
'Thoroughly entertaining' New York Times (Juno & Juliet)
'Extremely original and surprising' Sunday Independent (Jude)
'Gough makes it look easy, with an instinctive sense of timing, and a razor sharp and subversive intellect' Sunday Tribune (Jude)
Reviews
A dazzling technothriller . . . propulsive and engrossing * Guardian *
Connect is so plugged into the technological zeitgeist . . . This is the world we know, several operating systems down the line . . . Instantly convincing . . . It will subtly change the way you see the world. * Sunday Times *
I found Connect propulsively paced and ingeniously twisting. Gough has written a hyperactive, adrenaline-junkie dystopian thriller that deserves to be made into a belter of a film franchise. * The Times *
This stimulating tale of a coder and his mum is a hyper-digital thriller . . . a story of family dysfunction plugged into larger questions about reality, evolution and the west's self-definition as "the good guys". * Observer *
An exciting literary thriller with plenty of interesting ideas. * Mail on Sunday *
Read Connect by the absurdly brilliant Julian Gough, a mind-expanding technothriller with a hotly beating human heart. -- Emma Donoghue
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 out as a prophet among writers. -- Donal Ryan
A wonderful novel, a tour de force. -- Joseph O'Connor
This is a novel of enormous danger and risk . . . It is in the lightness of the writing, the compelling force of the narrative that the author achieves real brilliance. Gough has undoubtedly arrived, as a master storyteller. -- Michael Harding
Connect has all the hallmarks of such futuristic classics as War Of The Worlds and Brave New World, but it is also a strong stand alone novel full of excitement, twists, and turns, and stands shoulder to shoulder with any thriller being published today. * Galway Advertiser *
A mind-warping futuristic thriller wrapped in a smorgasbord of ideas . . . inventive and entertaining . . . Connect might just be the perfect combination of beach read and literary torchpaper. * Sunday Business Post (Ireland) *
Book Information
ISBN 9781509809851
Author Julian Gough
Format Paperback
Page Count 400
Imprint Picador
Publisher Pan Macmillan
Weight(grams) 348g
Dimensions(mm) 196mm * 129mm * 37mm
