A Maxim Jakubowski Best Science Fiction selection.

An award-winning novel by a new American writer, THE WIND-UP GIRL is a dark vision of the future, almost like William Gibson without the computers. A tale of industrial espionage, civil war and political struggle, in which Anderson Lake, a calorie representative undercover in Thailand meets up with the beautiful and enigmatic Emiko in a Bangkok street market. She is one the engineered New People, an underclass of the near future. The encounter plunges him and the reader into a multi-layered new world of fear in which biology has taken over from electronics as a driving force. Challenging but rewarding.

Synopsis

Anderson Lake is a company man, AgriGen's calorie representative in Thailand. Under cover as a factory manager, he combs Bangkok's street markets in search of foodstuffs long thought to be extinct. There he meets the windup girl - the beautiful and enigmatic Emiko - now abandoned to the slums. She is one of the New People, bred to suit the whims of the rich. Engineered as slaves, soldiers and toys, they are the new underclass in a chilling near future where oil has run out, calorie companies dominate nations and bio-engineered plagues run rampant across the globe. And as Lake becomes increasingly obsessed with Emiko, conspiracies breed in the heat and political tensions threaten to spiral out of control. Businessmen and ministry officials, wealthy foreigners and landless refugees all have their own agendas. But no one anticipates the devastating influence of the Windup Girl.

Reviews

'Bacigalupi is a worthy successor to William Gibson: this is cyberpunk without computers'
Time Magazine

'Not since William Gibson's pioneering cyberpunk classic, NEUROMANCER (1984), has a first novel excited science fiction readers as much ... Paolo Bacigalupi is a writer to watch for in the future. Just don't wait that long to enjoy the darkly complex pleasures of THE WIND-UP GIRL'
The Washington Post

'An exciting story about industrial espionage, civil war, and political struggle, filled with heart-thudding action sequences, sordid sex, and enough technical speculation for two lesser novels'
Cory Doctorow

'This complex, literate and intensely felt tale, which recalls both William Gibson and Ian McDonald at their very best, will garner Bacigalupi significant critical attention and is clearly one of the finest science fiction novels of the year'
Publishers Weekly (starred review)

'It's ridiculous how good this book is'
Techland

'Postmodern Bangkok springs to life in Bacigalupi's brilliant dystopian tale of culture clash, recalling the best of China Mieville and Neal Stephenson'
Library Journal

About the Author

Paolo Bacigalupi is a multiple award-winning SF author whose debut THE WINDUP GIRL has been one of the most acclaimed novels in this area to appear in recent years. He also writes critically acclaimed, award-winning short stories in addition to novel length fiction. Paolo currently lives in Western Colorado with his wife and son.   Author photo © J T Thomas Photography More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation