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David Shafer

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Kindle Edition

by David Shafer (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

312 ratings

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Three young adults grapple with the usual thirty-something problems -- boredom, authenticity, an omnipotent online oligarchy -- in David Shafer's darkly comic debut novel.

The Committee, an international cabal of industrialists and media barons, is on the verge of privatizing all information. Dear Diary, an idealistic online Underground, stands in the way of that takeover, using radical politics, classic spycraft, and technology that makes Big Data look like dial-up. Into this secret battle stumbles an unlikely trio: Leila Majnoun, a disillusioned non-profit worker; Leo Crane, an unhinged trustafarian; and Mark Deveraux, a phony self-betterment guru who works for the Committee.

Leo and Mark were best friends in college, but early adulthood has set them on diverging paths. Growing increasingly disdainful of Mark's platitudes, Leo publishes a withering takedown of his ideas online. But the Committee is reading -- and erasing -- Leo's words. On the other side of the world, Leila's discoveries about the Committee's far-reaching ambitions threaten to ruin those who are closest to her.

In the spirit of William Gibson and Chuck Palahniuk, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is both a suspenseful global thriller and an emotionally truthful novel about the struggle to change the world in- and outside your head.

Print length

433 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Mulholland Books
Publication date

August 5, 2014
File size

769 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Is it too late to nominate a candidate for novel of the summer? . . . A paranoid, sarcastic and clattering pop thriller . . . Mr. Shafer gets the playfulness-to-paranoia ratio about exactly right. . . . He's got a sick wit and a high style. Reading his prose is like popping a variant of the red pill in The Matrix: Everything gets a little crisper. . . . Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is a page-turner, yet many more "literary" writers will, I suspect, envy Mr. Shafer's tactile prose. His eye is hawklike. . . . Mr. Shafer has written a bright, brash entertainment, one that errs, when it errs at all, on the side of generosity, narrative and otherwise. It tips you, geekily and humanely, through the looking glass."―Dwight Garner, New York Times

"Shafer's savvy, sardonic take on our social media- and Big Data-worshiping society is as current as your Twitter feed..Just in time for your August beach trip, put Whiskey on your Amazon Wish List. As if they don't already know you want it."

―Patty Rhule, USA Today

"Genius techno-thriller à la Neal Stephenson, powered by social-media info-conspiracy à la Dave Eggers."

―Lev Grossman, Time

"No summary can do justice to the snap and smarts of this witty tale. . . . A clever book with an entertaining narrator just exploding with personalities."

―Jenni Laidman, Chicago Tribune

"Zinging with wit and pop culture savvy . . . Shafer's writing is hip, wickedly hilarious, cutting edge, and ultimately concerned with old-fashioned notions of morality and redemption. . . His inventive, comic, dystopian semi-thriller restored my faith in fiction."

―Mark Lindquist, Seattle Times --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

About the Author

David Shafer is a graduate of Harvard and the Columbia Journalism School. He has lived in Argentina and Dublin, and has been a journalist, sometimes a carpenter, once a taxi driver and briefly a flack for an NGO. He now lives in Portland with his wife, daughter, and son.

--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00H25FFGU
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mulholland Books (August 5, 2014)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 5, 2014
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 769 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 433 pages
Lending ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #843,014 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1,287 in Mashup Fiction
- #1,916 in Satire
- #2,221 in Political Fiction (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
312 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		29%
4 star		26%
3 star		20%
2 star		14%
1 star		12%

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Top reviews from the United States

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reviewerbruce

I don't enjoy novels that end with a cliff hanger

Reviewed in the United States on September 6, 2014

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Had I know this was going to be the first of a series of books and it was going to end with a cliff hanger, I would not have started it. The characters in the book made it an interesting, although not compelling, read. The plot - bad big brother info gather against good guy info gather - didn't come across as believable. In fact, it reminded me a lot of the 1960's James Bond spy thrillers; including the omnipresent villain in an elaborate lair. The only thing missing was the "villain" petting his long hair white cat while it laid in his lap. This is not to say I haven't enjoyed other authors whose novels are part of a series; I only enjoy the ones where each novel is complete on its own while being connected to all of the others in the series. I was disappointed this book felt so incomplete.

8 people found this helpful

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Joseph M. Fraser

Decent thriller

Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2014

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A young humanitarian sees something she shouldn't near the Chinese border and finds herself, along with two men, tangled up in a nefarious plot to steal all of the world's information. This premise kept me turning the pages to the end of the book. Also, the descriptiveness and creeping menace in the earliest chapters were outstanding. But the prose seemed to weaken after that, and the two male leads were almost cartoonishly drawn. That, combined with frequently passive sentence structure and inadequate scene settings left me disappointed after such a promising beginning.

Am I being a literary snob? Yes, definitely. If you're in it for the mind candy and love a good thriller, you'll enjoy this novel immensely. The prose is far better than that in the Jack Reacher novels or anything Ludlum ever wrote. Overall, I give the book three stars.

4 people found this helpful

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I loved the characters and the voice

Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2016

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I loved the characters and the voice. Shafer is funny, insightful and articulate, and he does such a great job balancing the elements of thriller-like plotting with true depth of character. There's a tightrope, too, between the seriousness and absurdity. Not easy balances to pull off, but WTF does it.

In my opinion, the many reviewers who've complained of a lack of ending are mistaken. Nothing personal against these folks, but perhaps they didn't read carefully enough or think about it hard enough. As the book comes to a close, there is a clear trajectory implied for the events that are to follow, and I personally appreciate that the author trusted readers to be smart enough to get it without some long, belabored process of beating readers over the head with things. It's not your predictable, Hollywood style wrap-up, sure, but that's a good thing, as far as this reader is concerned.

2 people found this helpful

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Terry A. Gray

So what happened?

Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2015

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With the numerous encomiums from prestigious outlets I was prepared for something special in this book, but it was a big disappointment. First, what the author does well: inner dialog and descriptions of personal stress, that he works out with his three main characters, which seem to all be a variation on a single angst. The rest: the plot is driven by unrealistic assumptions about big data that one suspects the author only has the vaguest notions about: more lie-fi than sci-fi. The agencies that move the plot, The Committee, the Resistance are about as silly as can be, anything but believable. After investing around 400 pages in the inner maunderings of his three main characters and increasingly ridiculous plot points the author just drops the whole thing at the end, once he has brought is three characters back from deviancy to socially acceptable, normative values. It is hugely disappointing. The characters are not all that interesting anyhow, and then to fail to provide a plot resolution speaks to a very inexperienced (or perhaps arrogant) author. If an author is going to embrace a far-out plot device like the "eye test" and a nefarious plot to capture all the world's data, he is at least obliged to wind it up properly. Not so here.

2 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Great book if you don't mind

Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2014

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I really enjoyed the writing style, the quick pace, and the characters were nicely flawed and quirky.

Timely topic that makes you think, great for the conspiracy minded among us.

I bought the book after reading a recommendation from Seth Godin, and hesitated somewhat after reading the feedback about the ending.

I hate to say I agree, the lack of ending spoiled it for me even though I knew it was coming.

It would be one thing if there was some conflict resolved, but yet another to be addressed "when we meet again."

This one sets up the initial conflict, and just as you are getting interested in what will happen next, the lights come on.

5 people found this helpful

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Ian S. Mccarthy

Half a book

Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2014

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Shafer is a new writer who shows a great deal of potential. However, as others have pointed out, he has basically written half a book. Perhaps he has been looking a GRR Martin's success in fooling the public over a prolonged period. He does a great job of building interest in his main protagonist, an Iranian American girl and the plot, although implausible carries one along for the trip. BUT just as you are getting into the book it comes to an end, with obviously at least one sequel envisioned. I bought after reading a rave review in the NYT but the reviewer was either a friend of the author or didn't finish the book. If the sequel doesn't materialise fairly soon I shall feel distinctly cheated.

3 people found this helpful

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Barry Melius

For scifi fans with discerning tastes

Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2014

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Three likable,well drawn and initially separate mid-thirties protagonists watch their lives increasingly spin out of control seemingly due to the machinations of highly placed powerful institutions beyond their control. They are drawn closer in a whirlwind of strange events as they struggle to gain some control over the sh#% life has thrown at them. Well written with complex,believable characters that despite(or because of)their quirks had me rooting for them. Seems to me that this fits in more with the present day/near future scifi written by the likes of William Gibson,Neal Stephenson or Walter Jon Williams than the more normal thrillers on the best seller lists. This is very good company to be in and I hope to see more of this author. Cutting edge,highly recommended. Thank you for a good read,Mr Shafer

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Top reviews from other countries

S Barnard

Very hard going

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 16, 2016

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As a Yorkshire girl I hate to give up on a book I've paid for but I've struggled on to 40% on this one and I'm really thinking WTF! Story is not compelling enough to make me read more than a few pages at a time so I've lost track of what's happening.

Joe

Nearly...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 22, 2015

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It nearly works, somehow doesn't flow. Good premise but clunky story telling.

Gilly61

let's hope there is and it's as good.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 8, 2015

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This is a gripping read. It does leave scope for a sequel, let's hope there is and it's as good.

JAS

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 20, 2015

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A good read

Chloe.k.25

Not sure is there a sequel but really enjoyed the book itself

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 25, 2015

Verified Purchase

Kind of a nothing ending? Not sure is there a sequel but really enjoyed the book itself.

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