Zoey Punches the Future in the Dick

Exhibiting Wong’s trademark blend of the subtle and the absurd, the riotous second installment to the Zoey Ashe series (after 2016’s Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits) catapults readers back into lawless, futuristic Tabula Ra$a, Utah. Zoey, having inherited her absentee father’s vast criminal empire along with his fortune, must navigate her new role as a mob head, a task made more difficult by her pesky sense of morality and lingering hang-ups from her hard-knock childhood. Her existential crisis takes a sharp turn during Halloween season when a campaign of harassment against her escalates into a hostage situation and a corpse delivered to her doorstep. Then the corpse rises and accuses Zoey of murder. While working to uncover the meaning behind this gory delivery, Zoey must also come to grips with her every move being watched, critiqued, mocked, and emulated thanks to Tabula Ra$a’s all-seeing technological network. Wong sneaks a nuanced examination of the surrealist nature of the digital age into the nonstop action, whipping technological, philosophical, and ethical questions into a wild romp that satirizes everything from the men’s rights movement to gaming culture to the cult of celebrity. This is a brilliant modern parable disguised as pop fiction. Agent: Scott Miller, Trident Media. (Oct.)