Dystopian, Fast-paced, Fiction, Loved-it, NetGalley, Rising star, Scifi

Your Double Gets Your Wife, You Get Persecution. What Do You Do? The Punch Escrow by Tal M. Klein

Look at me, typing away at this review, when I should really be working. But I just loved this book so much!

Me and my friend / reader Struggling Writer buddy-read this book last month. And it was a blast! We’ve decided to do an interview-review, which means, I ask him questions, and so does he, and we post our reviews around them. So if you want to see what I asked Paul, go ahead and visit his blog post.

I still feel sad that I haven’t posted a review right after I read it, but life severely got in the way, and there’s also that whole 5 star book review anxiety thing. It was just so good, I believe I won’t be able to write a good enough review for it.

Can I just tell you that:

★ this book was amazing
★ you must absolutely read it
there is no other way but for you to read it

And be done with it..? No……?

Then let me give you a little bit of background first. First of all, it’s hard to put this in the scifi box… Let’s just call it future-speculative-fiction. No space, okay?

As for what happens, our main character Joel is a… happy-go-lucky guy, so you could say. He isn’t too responsible, too concerned about things. He works when needed, but other than that he calls himself a “breadloser”, because it’s his wife who earns in his family. And although it seems his life should be easy, he is concerned about the growing rift in his marriage. So just as he’s about to join her on their second honeymoon… His teleportation fails (did I mention Joel lives in the future..?) and he suffers a terrorist attack, as a result of which… He finds himself with a double, being chased by the equivalent of the government and abandoned by his oblivious wife. Yes, there’s a lot of action. Yes, there’s speculation too. And there’s philosophy.

Technically speaking, this book has all you could ever want. That’s certainly how I felt reading it.

Now then, let’s get to Paul’s questions!

What did you like most about the book?

Truly, it’s hard to say! I loved everything about it. It has great dynamics, Joel is a wonderful main character! He’s spunky, witty and imperfect. He will make you laugh even at the most dire of situations, or even when your heart breaks (and it does break in this story.) Other than that, I loved that the writing is sort of a mix between Ben Aaronovitch (Rivers of London) and Matt Wallace (Sin du Jour). It’s entertainment at its best! And yet, despite that, it’s also deep and touching where it needs to be. I simply couldn’t put it down.

What in the book did you not like, or what gave you pause?

Zip. Nada. Nothing! I can confidently say I loved everything!

What technology from the book do you wish was available for use right now?

The basis of all of everything in The Punch Escrow is this wonderfully amazing thing that has been discovered, and it is called… Quantum Foam! Basically, with the right machine, you can print… anything. Your coffee cup. That perfect pizza from Friday night. A new car. Even humans.

I would be silly if I didn’t think that was awesome! (Apart from the humans bit. Mostly.) Think of all the cooking nobody would have to do. (Think of all the cake we could eat…)

What technology from the book do you wish never becomes real?

I couldn’t say I have anything against the technology in the book (even teleportation, despite how it’s portrayed!) But I was quite terrified of the power of technology – basically the fact that corporations overpowered the government and became it, and the ones that owned technology, owned… pretty much everything else. (That part of the book is quite dystopian, BTW.) That could very well happen. So while my answer isn’t quite about technology, that is NOT something I’d like to witness happening.

What would you do/how would you react to meeting your doppelganger?

Oh my gosh, I would be super curious! Maybe I’d finally see myself from the side and stop thinking that I look fat / ugly / my hair looks stupid understand that I’m like any other normal person?? Also? I’d really like to hear my voice in reality, but not through a microphone. Do you know that way your voice sounds incredibly stupid when it’s recorded?..

Can it, Janice.

Assuming teleportation works like in the book, and also assuming you know the truth about it, would you teleport?

Spoiler territory, but I still can’t answer that question. Honest to god, I have been thinking about this ever since I finished the book and that was at least a half a month ago. I’m leaning towards no… But then again, teleportation??

What book is next on your reading list?

That’s it for my slightly unusual post! I give up in trying to write a decent 5 star review and hope I’ve convinced you to read the book anyway. I also recommend reading Tammy’s review, as she does a great job filling in the things that I didn’t bother telling you. And if you’ve decided, you can grab the book at Book Depository through this link, and by doing so you are also supporting my blog ❤️

I have received this book through NetGalley in exchange to my honest review and I’m greatly thankful to Inkshares/Geek & Sundry and Tal M. Klein for giving me a chance to read this wonderful gem!

Have you read any other reviews for this? If you have, I hope mine tips the scale! Go out there and buy it!