The Punch Escrow cover art

The Punch Escrow

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

The Punch Escrow

By: Tal M. Klein
Narrated by: Matthew Mercer
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £13.58

Buy Now for £13.58

Summary

It's the year 2147. Advancements in nanotechnology have enabled us to control aging. We've genetically engineered mosquitoes to feast on carbon fumes instead of blood, ending air pollution. And teleportation has become the ideal mode of transportation, offered exclusively by International Transport - a secretive firm headquartered in New York City. Their slogan: Departure...Arrival...Delight!

Joel Byram, our smartass protagonist, is an everyday 22nd century guy. He spends his days training artificial-intelligence engines to act more human, jamming out to 1980s new wave - an extremely obscure genre - and trying to salvage his deteriorating marriage. Joel is pretty much an everyday guy with everyday problems - until he's accidentally duplicated while teleporting. Now Joel must outsmart the shadowy organization that controls teleportation, outrun the religious sect out to destroy it, and find a way to get back to the woman he loves in a world that now has two of him.

©2017 Tal M. Klein (P)2017 Audible, Inc. Adventure Hard Science Fiction Science Fiction Technothrillers Thriller & Suspense
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_c

Critic reviews

"Narrator Matthew Mercer is perfectly cast as smart-ass Joel Byram. One can almost see Joel's facial expressions as he navigates a world in which he's been duplicated in a teleportation accident. This futuristic story is made Monty Python-like by Mercer's outstanding voicings. His version of the synthesized voice of the 171-year-old founder of a religious cult is beautifully mechanical. His rendering of the two Levantine spies' accents is marvelous. And his depiction of the transformation of a hardworking science guy into full-fledged mad scientist is spot-on. Many characters, many voices - one terrific performance." (AudioFile)
All stars
Most relevant
Matthew Mercer really brought this book to life. I'm looking forward to the 2nd part.

Would definitely listen to it again

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I really wanted to like this book, but I could barely stay the course. There is little more than a rescue short story, in the context of what could have been an excellent narrative. The whole thing, despite Klein’s reddit response is the reveal and the notion of teleportation as murder and copying, but this seems to be just ignored, maybe the wrong word, but not used! He has reveals where there hasnt been any setup other than a passing mention of someone, so that when they appear you are like, oh that guy he mentioned 2 chapters ago! There is no world building and the characters have no soul, maybe that was on purpose, like a foil to the plot of the book? And I am not the first to say it but the whole, lazy, but intelligent under achiever, with hot more intelligent wife hero thing is over. Just cos I like Sci fi doesnt mean I need to wallow in fantasy.
Anyway, what a shame, also nearly forgot, the 80s references were so pointless, this book reads like a screenplay rather than a novel, unimaginatively rehashing traits from other better books in order to formulaically create a story that tricks enough people to buy it, oh god and the ending.... or is it?
Seriously what a load of c rap.
The narrator was excellent, and got me to the end, so good in fact that he managed to make this unpalatable thoughtless book get through-able.

Great premise but poor plot

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
enthralling story from start to finish, matthew mercers narration really brings it to life

outstanding!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Fun book to listen to with an amazing voice artist bring it to life! .

Amazing book with an amazing vocal artist!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Matt Mercer has an amazing voice and he's the only reason I picked this book. If you've listed to Critical Role and wished all these other people would stop talking and let Matt speak, this might be worth your while. Despite Matt's beautiful voice, I could bearly listen through this. It's just so boring, I (and everyone else who's seen any sci-fi teleportation) have thought about the crux of the story, and it's an interesting question. Which is why it's so annoying that the book kinda faceplants as soon as it gets going. The idea is that the really intelligent protagonist doesn't think of the very obvious implications of the MacGuffin, which is laughable and immersion-breaking.

The book has many interesting ideas, it's a shame it wasn't written by someone who knew what to do with them.

An excellent telling of a uninteresting story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews