Going Zero - by Anthony McCarten (Paperback)

About the Book

"Ten Americans have been carefully selected to Beta test a ground-breaking piece of spyware. Pioneered by tech-wunderkind Cy Baxter in collaboration with the CIA, FUSION can track anyone on earth. But does it work? Each participant is given two hours to 'Go Zero' - to go off-grid and disappear - and then thirty days to elude the highly sophisticated Capture Teams sent to find them. Any Zero that beats FUSION will receive $3 million. If Cy's system prevails, he wins a $90 billion-dollar government contract to revolutionize surveillance forever. For one contestant, an unassuming Boston librarian named Kaitlyn Day, the stakes are far higher than money, and her reasons for entering the test more personal than anyone imagines. Kaitlyn needs to win as badly as Cy needs to realize his own ambitions. They have no choice but to finish the game and when the timer hits zero, there will only be one winner..."--

Book Synopsis

TWO HOURS TO VANISH.

ONE CHANCE TO ESCAPE.

ZERO ALTERNATIVES.

Ten Americans have been carefully selected to Beta test a ground-breaking piece of spyware. FUSION can track anyone on earth. But does it work?

For one contestant, an unassuming Boston librarian named Kaitlyn Day, the stakes are far higher than money, and her reasons for entering the test more personal than anyone imagines. When the timer hits zero, there will only be one winner...

From four-time Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Anthony McCarten comes a breakneck, wickedly entertaining thriller for our times, a twisty, action-packed novel reminiscent of the best Michael Crichton technothrillers.

Review Quotes

"This is one of the best thrillers I've read in a long time, although the word 'thriller' doesn't quite capture the sheer pleasure of reading this story, with its wickedly clever set-up, its unassuming librarian protagonist, its twisty plot and surprise ending. Beyond pure entertainment is the truth this novel speaks about the disturbing times we live in. I highly, highly recommend this book." - Douglas Preston, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Cabinet of Dr. Leng and The Lost City of the Monkey God
"Fast-paced and shrill, Going Zero will find plenty of fans." - Reviewing the Evidence
"Going Zero is clever, intelligent, action-packed, exciting and full of surprises. This novel belongs on top of your TBR list!" - BookTrib
"A story that is timely, frightening, exciting, suspenseful, and surprising . . . .There are a lot of well-crafted characters . . . and secrets and neck-wrenching plot twists abound . . . The subject of high-tech surveillance has become a hot-button issue, and McCarten cleverly and plausibly extrapolates from today's technology to what we may well see tomorrow. An outstanding thriller." - Booklist (starred review)
"Going Zero starts out as an action adventure thriller--part The Amazing Race, part Hunted USA, part Michael Crichton technothriller . . . . But it's not all action: McCarten is a screenwriter, and knows just when to pump the brakes to let the characters shine through, and the plot thicken. Ultimately, if the prospect of a digital Big Brother wasn't terrifying you up until now, allow Going Zero to rectify that." - Amazon Books
"This is a great action-thriller, with major twists and turns, and you will not want to put it down. It will be one of the best books of the year." - RedCarpetCrash
"Crackling . . . Shimmers with alarming portents about the state we find ourselves in" . . . . How can some random 'unsavvy citizen' . . . outwit the world's sharpest spyware experts? The answer is more tangled than you might think, and a great deal of fun." - Sarah Lyall, The New York Times Book Review
"As fast-paced as it is timely...Anthony McCarten shoots a bullet through contemporary America with this wickedly taut conspiracy thriller. I'll never look at my phone the same way again." - Graham Moore, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Days of Night and The Sherlockian
"Going Zero is the first novel I've read in years that speeds the pulse as much as it challenges the brain. That can-you-beat-the-system hook recalls the juggernaut likes of Ready Player One and Lost, but Going Zero outpaces them both, and dives deeper: it's a speculative-fiction classic in the vein (and even in the league) of I, Robot and Jurassic Park--a thriller you can gobble down with a bucket of popcorn, and also feel smarter for having read. Provocative, perceptive, and--no other word will do--ingenious." - A.J. Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window
"This well-written yarn proves that you don't have to have a blood bath to have an engaging thriller." - Kirkus Reviews
". . . an edgy, compulsively readable thriller." - Publishers Weekly
"[A] relentless new nailbiter from novelist and playwright Anthony McCarten. It is a speculative thriller very much in the vein of a top-ranked video game or, believe it or not, of our current daily news coverage. . . . . It's all intended to be a cautionary tale, and it is awfully good as such, but McCarten's genuine skill lies in the sleek, cunning way he relishes pulling the rug out from under us time and again." - Anniston Star
"In a world grappling with cell phone tracking and AI overreach, this is a timely and absorbing tale." - Audiofile Magazine