Shovel ready: a novel

Book Cover
Average Rating
Series
Spademan volume 1
Publisher
Crown Publishers
Publication Date
©2014]
Language
English

Description

The futuristic hardboiled noir that Lauren Beukes calls “sharp as a paper-cut” about a garbage man turned kill-for-hire. Spademan used to be a garbage man.  That was before the dirty bomb hit Times Square, before his wife was killed, and before the city became a blown-out shell of its former self. Now he’s a hitman. In a near-future New York City split between those who are wealthy enough to “tap in” to a sophisticated virtual reality, and those who are left to fend for themselves in the ravaged streets, Spademan chose the streets.  When his latest client hires him to kill the daughter of a powerful evangelist, he must navigate between these two worldsthe wasteland reality and the slick fantasyto finish his job, clear his conscience, and make sure he’s not the one who winds up in the ground.

More Details

ISBN
9780385348997

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Also in this Series

  • Shovel ready: a novel (Spademan Volume 1) Cover
  • Near enemy: a Spademan novel (Spademan Volume 2) Cover

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Similar Series From Novelist

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for series you might like if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
Though Takeshi Kovacs is a former UN envoy and Spademan is a hit man, both uncover crimes and conspiracies in gritty virtual worlds in these cyberpunk series combining science fiction and hardboiled detective stories. Spademan is darker and more disturbing. -- Kaitlyn Moore
These compelling cyberpunk series are set in gritty futures where humanity lives both in the physical world and in virtual reality. The bleaker Spademan follows a hit man, while Sprawl Trilogy explores how technology affects a diverse range of characters. -- Kaitlyn Moore
Though Spademan is set in a ruined New York City and in virtual reality, and the Madrid Audran Trilogy occurs in the Middle East, both use gritty, hardboiled mystery and cyberpunk elements to ask questions about human identity and future technology. -- Kaitlyn Moore
These cyberpunk series follow hardboiled assassins regularly stuck in situations above their pay grade. Following their own sometimes questionable codes of honor, they nevertheless fight powerful organizations to protect the vulnerable telling compelling stories of technology and violence. -- Kaitlyn Moore
These series have the appeal factors bleak, gritty, and cinematic, and they have the genre "cyberpunk"; the subjects "assassins," "dystopias," and "near future"; and characters that are "brooding characters."
These series have the appeal factors disturbing, bleak, and gritty, and they have the genre "cyberpunk"; and the subjects "assassins," "dystopias," and "near future."
These series have the appeal factors disturbing, bleak, and gritty, and they have the genres "hardboiled fiction" and "noir fiction"; and the subjects "dystopias," "near future," and "police corruption."
These series have the genres "cyberpunk" and "dystopian fiction"; and the subjects "dystopias," "near future," and "terrorism."
These series have the appeal factors bleak and gritty, and they have the genres "cyberpunk" and "apocalyptic fiction"; and the subjects "assassins," "dystopias," and "nanotechnology."

Similar Titles From NoveList

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for titles you might like if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
These books have the appeal factors disturbing, bleak, and spare, and they have the genres "dystopian fiction" and "adult books for young adults"; the subjects "dystopias" and "near future"; and characters that are "brooding characters."
NoveList recommends "Sprawl trilogy" for fans of "Spademan". Check out the first book in the series.
A town called Malice - Abramowitz, Adam
Malice's wisecracking bike messenger and Shovel's garbageman turned philosophical hitman will appeal to readers who enjoy gritty stories narrated by colorful characters. Malice takes place in Boston; Shovel Ready, in what remains of NYC after a dirty bomb. -- Alicia Cavitt
Salvation is a central theme in these violent and gritty suspense novels. In Shovel Ready, a girl saves herself from her father and in Save Yourself teens try to escape their parents' mistakes. Both novels are bleak and disturbing. -- Melissa Gray
These gritty novels, rife with violence and virtual reality, center on protagonists seeking to better the world by killing a psychopath (Shovel Ready) or a computer virus (Snow Crash). -- Melissa Gray
The future has never looked quite so bleak or corrupt in these hardboiled novels. Told in clipped, spare prose, both fast-paced tales feature cold, violent men operating in gritty, dystopian worlds. -- Mike Nilsson
These books have the appeal factors disturbing, bleak, and spare, and they have the theme "altered memories"; the genres "cyberpunk" and "hardboiled fiction"; the subjects "dystopias," "near future," and "former police"; and characters that are "brooding characters."
NoveList recommends "Takeshi Kovacs novels" for fans of "Spademan". Check out the first book in the series.
The killer is dying - Sallis, James
Remorseless hit men star in these hardboiled crime novels. Told in lean, spare prose, both tales are gritty and nihilistic, set in places where the human heart rarely flourishes. -- Mike Nilsson
Tense, intense, and tautly written, these thrillers features protagonists of dubious morality along with explosive action scenes that move at a lightning pace. The heroes may be sociopaths, but they're sociopaths you find yourself rooting for. -- Jessica Zellers
Two tough men's lives take a disturbing, and violent turn as a result of one life-changing decision -- in Shovel Ready a hitman avenges rather than kill a mark and in No Country to steal some obviously dirty money. -- Melissa Gray
These books have the appeal factors disturbing, bleak, and spare, and they have the genre "cyberpunk"; and the subjects "assassins," "dystopias," and "near future."

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NoveList provides detailed suggestions for other authors you might want to read if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
These authors' works have the appeal factors disturbing, spare, and unreliable narrator, and they have the genres "hardboiled fiction" and "psychological suspense"; and the subjects "dystopias," "near future," and "criminals."
These authors' works have the appeal factors bleak, disturbing, and gritty, and they have the genre "hardboiled fiction"; and the subjects "dystopias," "near future," and "memories."
These authors' works have the appeal factors bleak, spare, and intricately plotted, and they have the subjects "husband and wife," "marital conflict," and "secrets."
These authors' works have the appeal factors bleak, disturbing, and gritty, and they have the genres "psychological suspense" and "thrillers and suspense"; and the subjects "assassins," "rape," and "grief."
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These authors' works have the appeal factors bleak, disturbing, and spare, and they have the genre "psychological suspense"; and the subjects "teenage girls" and "rape."
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These authors' works have the appeal factors bleak, spare, and intricately plotted, and they have the genres "psychological suspense" and "thrillers and suspense"; and the subjects "assassins," "secrets," and "deception."
These authors' works have the appeal factors bleak, disturbing, and spare, and they have the genres "hardboiled fiction" and "psychological suspense"; and the subjects "dystopias," "near future," and "husband and wife."
These authors' works have the appeal factors bleak, disturbing, and gritty, and they have the genres "hardboiled fiction" and "crime fiction"; and the subjects "memories," "former police," and "violence."
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Published Reviews

Booklist Review

*Starred Review* It's been a banner year for debut thrillers. Last February, we were treated to Roger Hobbs' Ghostman, about a thief who specializes in making all traces of his capers disappear. Now, not quite a year later, we have another galvanizing thriller boasting an equally unique premise and another compelling, antiheroic protagonist on the wrong side of the law though the concepts of right and wrong, law and lawless, have little meaning in the world of Shovel Ready. Yes, the novel falls under the postapocalyptic umbrella Times Square has been hit by a dirty bomb, and Manhattan has become an eerie demilitarized zone but Sternbergh is not merely re-creating The Road or any of the countless other novels that posit what happens after the bomb. Spademan was a garbage man before Manhattan was nuked. Now he has a new job: a hit man for hire (have box cutter, will use it) walking the city's desolate streets. Those streets have become desolate for a very peculiar reason. While Central Park is a twenty-first-century Hooverville, home to the dislocated poor, the rich have taken to their beds but not just any beds: these special contraptions connect their inhabitants to the limnosphere, a new kind of Internet that allows its users to construct their own virtual world and live there permanently. When Spademan agrees to kill the daughter of a famous televangelist but then falls in love with her instead, he attempts to transform himself from hit man to avenging angel, which requires some dexterous jumping from postapocalyptic reality to limnosphere (have box cutter, will time travel). Like Nick Harkaway in Angelmaker (2012), Sternbergh, culture editor for the New York Times Magazine, combines stunning narrative sleight-of-hand with an ability to create flesh-and-blood characters who bring humor and a resilient humanity to their torn-asunder world. Mixing dystopian science fiction and urban noir with a Palahniuk swagger, this could well be the first novel everybody is talking about over the next few months. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Extensive online and social-media promotion will combine with mainstream marketing to set this debut on its way. Oh, and that movie deal with Warner Brothers won't hurt, either.--Ott, Bill Copyright 2010 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
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Publisher's Weekly Review

A dirty bomb explosion in Times Square leaves New York City half-emptied, save for the rich and the poor, in Sternberg's first novel, a low-rent Raymond Chandler noir told in the style of very late James Ellroy. A former sanitation worker who calls himself Spademan now makes a living as a hit man. When Spademan agrees to kill 18-year-old Grace Chastity "Persephone" Harrow for an unknown client, he seeks her out among the park-living poor. That Persephone's father is famed evangelist T.K. Harrow, who is about to hold a revival service in Radio City Music Hall, is just one of the complications that leads Spademan into deep trouble-both virtual and real. Evidently inspired by 1980s cyberpunk and movies like Strange Days, Sternbergh, the New York Times Magazine's culture editor, adds nothing new to a near-future scenario in which the narrator, despite his insistence on strict moral standards, is little better than the book's bad guys. Agent: David McCormick, McCormick & Williams. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
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Library Journal Review

Former garbageman Spademan is a box cutter-wielding death dealer in a near future New York City decimated by car bombs and dirty bombs. Geiger counters are chic accessories for stylish youth, and jacking in to a thoroughly immersive virtual reality world is all the rage. Spademan thinks his life is simple-do the job, get paid-until his new mark turns out to be a young girl who calls herself Persephone. She's on the run from her very powerful father, and he'll do anything, and take down anyone, to get her back. Persephone's got secrets that could topple an evangelical empire, and she is determined at all costs to save herself. -VERDICT First-time author Sternbergh takes a heavy dose of noir and sets it in a dystopian setting. Spademan is an unlikely yet tragic hero, and it takes a talented author to make a reader root for such a damaged and ruthless man. Lean prose is punctuated by moments of shocking violence that only serve to underscore the novel's underlying humanity, and Persephone is a shining, brutal example of the will to survive at all costs. This is a gripping genre mash-up and a stunning debut. [See Prepub Alert, 7/15/13; this title was selected for Barnes & Noble's Spring 2014 Discover Great New Writers season.-Ed.]-Kristin -Centorcelli, Denton, TX (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Kirkus Book Review

A postmodern view of a dystopian, bombed-out New York City, as recounted by Spademan, a hired assassin. Spademan is a cynic, as any assassin worth his salt should be, but in this case, even his cynicism is tested when he's called upon to kill the 18-year-old daughter of T. K. Harrow, a famous evangelist. (Spademan kills men and women with ease but has always drawn the line at killing children because "that's a different kind of psycho.") The daughter, whose name is Grace Chastity but who goes by the more appropriate name of Persephone, is an elusive figure whom Spademan needs to track down, and when he finds her, she's five months pregnant. Her story is both horrifying and tragic, for she claims her father, the revered religious figure, is himself the father of her unborn child. Spademan finds his mission changing, for not only does he refuse to kill Chastity/Persephone, but instead decides to track down the well-protected Harrow. Along the way, he meets a raft of unsavory sociopathic types (is there any other kind?), like Simon the Magician, Harrow's head of security, a sadist of the first order. In this bleak, futuristic world, the rich immerse themselves in virtual reality for weeks at a time while the rabble has to contend with the charred remains of Manhattan. Spademan, who used to be a garbage man, discovers that dealing with the human detritus of New York is not that different from his previous profession. Telegraphic in style, this book is tough, sordid and definitely not for every taste.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
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Booklist Reviews

*Starred Review* It's been a banner year for debut thrillers. Last February, we were treated to Roger Hobbs' Ghostman, about a thief who specializes in making all traces of his capers disappear. Now, not quite a year later, we have another galvanizing thriller boasting an equally unique premise and another compelling, antiheroic protagonist on the wrong side of the law—though the concepts of right and wrong, law and lawless, have little meaning in the world of Shovel Ready. Yes, the novel falls under the postapocalyptic umbrella—Times Square has been hit by a dirty bomb, and Manhattan has become an eerie demilitarized zone—but Sternbergh is not merely re-creating The Road or any of the countless other novels that posit what happens after the bomb. Spademan was a garbage man before Manhattan was nuked. Now he has a new job: a hit man for hire (have box cutter, will use it) walking the city's desolate streets. Those streets have become desolate for a very peculiar reason. While Central Park is a twenty-first-century Hooverville, home to the dislocated poor, the rich have taken to their beds but not just any beds: these special contraptions connect their inhabitants to the "limnosphere," a new kind of Internet that allows its users to construct their own virtual world and live there permanently. When Spademan agrees to kill the daughter of a famous televangelist but then falls in love with her instead, he attempts to transform himself from hit man to avenging angel, which requires some dexterous jumping from postapocalyptic reality to limnosphere (have box cutter, will time travel). Like Nick Harkaway in Angelmaker (2012), Sternbergh, culture editor for the New York Times Magazine, combines stunning narrative sleight-of-hand with an ability to create flesh-and-blood characters who bring humor and a resilient humanity to their torn-asunder world. Mixing dystopian science fiction and urban noir with a Palahniuk swagger, this could well be the first novel everybody is talking about over the next few months. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Extensive online and social-media promotion will combine with mainstream marketing to set this debut on its way. Oh, and that movie deal with Warner Brothers won't hurt, either. Copyright 2013 Booklist Reviews.

Copyright 2013 Booklist Reviews.
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Library Journal Reviews

Former garbageman Spademan is a box cutter-wielding death dealer in a near future New York City decimated by car bombs and dirty bombs. Geiger counters are chic accessories for stylish youth, and jacking in to a thoroughly immersive virtual reality world is all the rage. Spademan thinks his life is simple—do the job, get paid—until his new mark turns out to be a young girl who calls herself Persephone. She's on the run from her very powerful father, and he'll do anything, and take down anyone, to get her back. Persephone's got secrets that could topple an evangelical empire, and she is determined at all costs to save herself. VERDICT First-time author Sternbergh takes a heavy dose of noir and sets it in a dystopian setting. Spademan is an unlikely yet tragic hero, and it takes a talented author to make a reader root for such a damaged and ruthless man. Lean prose is punctuated by moments of shocking violence that only serve to underscore the novel's underlying humanity, and Persephone is a shining, brutal example of the will to survive at all costs. This is a gripping genre mash-up and a stunning debut. [See Prepub Alert, 7/15/13; this title was selected for Barnes & Noble's Spring 2014 Discover Great New Writers season.—Ed.]—Kristin Centorcelli, Denton, TX

[Page 93]. (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Library Journal Reviews

Former garbageman Spademan is a box cutter–wielding death dealer in a near future New York City decimated by car bombs and dirty bombs. Geiger counters are chic accessories for stylish youth, and jacking in to a thoroughly immersive virtual reality world is all the rage. Spademan thinks his life is simple—do the job, get paid—until his new mark turns out to be a young girl who calls herself Persephone. She's on the run from her very powerful father, and he'll do any-thing, and take down anyone, to get her back. Persephone's got secrets that could topple an evangelical empire, and she is determined at all costs to save herself. VERDICT First-time author Sternbergh takes a heavy dose of noir and sets it in a dystopian setting. Spademan is an unlikely yet tragic hero, and it takes a talented author to make a reader root for such a damaged and ruthless man. Lean prose is punctuated by moments of shocking violence that only serve to un-derscore the novel's underlying humanity, and Persephone is a shining, brutal example of the will to survive at all costs. This is a gripping genre mash-up and a stunning debut. [See Prepub Alert, 7/15/13; this title was selected for Barnes & Noble's Spring 2014 Discover Great New Writers season.—Ed.] Kristin Centorcelli, Denton, TX (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Publishers Weekly Reviews

A dirty bomb explosion in Times Square leaves New York City half-emptied, save for the rich and the poor, in Sternberg's first novel, a low-rent Raymond Chandler noir told in the style of very late James Ellroy. A former sanitation worker who calls himself Spademan now makes a living as a hit man. When Spademan agrees to kill 18-year-old Grace Chastity "Persephone" Harrow for an unknown client, he seeks her out among the park-living poor. That Persephone's father is famed evangelist T.K. Harrow, who is about to hold a revival service in Radio City Music Hall, is just one of the complications that leads Spademan into deep trouble—both virtual and real. Evidently inspired by 1980s cyberpunk and movies like Strange Days, Sternbergh, the New York Times Magazine's culture editor, adds nothing new to a near-future scenario in which the narrator, despite his insistence on strict moral standards, is little better than the book's bad guys. Agent: David McCormick, McCormick & Williams. (Jan.)

[Page ]. Copyright 2013 PWxyz LLC

Copyright 2013 PWxyz LLC
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