THE HEIST OF HOLLOW LONDON by Eddie Robson

4 stars

This high-adventure dystopia set in future London features clones, called “Mades” who have been created as organ donors and spare parts for elite corporate executives (much like the premise of English clones raised as organ donors for the wealthy in the great novel Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro). Here in Robson’s take, the Mades work as indentured servants for the corporations in the hopes of one day paying off their debt and earning their freedom – the debt being what it cost the corporation to create them. To stop them from impersonating their originals in a high-tech world where ID hinges on eye scans, all the Mades get artificial eye implants.

When one of the largest corporations, Oakseed, goes unexpectedly out of business, the tension rachets up for all their Mades who know they will quickly get sold into even worse, lower-paying work, there being a glut of Mades on the market. Four of Oakseed’s Mades get purchased by Mia Ostrander, a former developer at Oakseed who sends them forth on a high-stakes heist mission to recover a untraceable digital currency coin, called “Coyne,” she says will allow her to buy back her developer personality which got swept up as corporate intellectual property for her development work.

These four include fast friends Arlo and Drienne who both served as sales oriented, social media influencers for Oakseed, along with a trained but unhappy in her job security officer Nadi and Loren, a keenly smart and independent thinking IT specialist. Mia offers to pay off all their debt if they can steal this Coyne holding $80 from an executive locker in one of Oakseed’s still running manufacturing plants. The Made workers of the plant have been kept isolated and no nothing of Oakseed’s demise, and left overseeing them is a timid executive mostly fretting at not being able to get in touch with his seniors and afraid of violence if the worker’s find out what’s really going on.

Turns out Mia is not all she seems, and that the heist is way more complex and dangerous than she’s let on. Each of team’s Mades has to rise up, blending courage with unique personality traits and side skills acquired in their indentured work for Oakseed. In addition to carrying out the heist and hoping to come out of it alive, each team member musts wrestle with their own unique identity separate from Oakseed and what they really want if they can get the freedom they seek.

Thought-provoking and a super fun heist story! You can’t help but wildly cheer the Mades on!

Thanks to Tor Publishing Group and NetGalley for an advanced reader’s copy.

Stacy DeBroff

Stacy DeBroff, founder and CEO of Mom Central.com and social and digital consultancy, Influence Central, is a social media strategist, attorney, and best-selling parenting author. A sought-after expert for national media, she trend-spots regularly with national brands and speaks frequently to national and international audiences on a wide range of subjects, including influencer marketing, social media, entrepreneurship, and consumer trends. A passionate cook, gardener, reader, and tennis player, she adores this new chapter of post-college-age parenting.