What do you buy and sell when the global markets reach saturation point? The markets themselves. Thirty years from now the big players in global capitalism have moved on from commodities. The big money is in conflict investment. The corporations keep a careful watch on the wars of liberation and revolution that burn constantly around the world. They guage who the winners will be and sell them arms, intelligence and power. In return for a slice of the action when the war is won. The reward? A stake in the new nation. It's cynical, brutal and it has nothing to do with democracy and the rule of law. So what else is new? The executives in this lethal game bid for contracts, fight for promotion, secure their lives on the roads. Fighting lethal duels in souped up, heavily armoured cars on the empty motorways of the future. Chris Faulkener has a lethal reputation and a new job at Shorn Associates. Has he got what it takes to make a real killing?
Market Forces (Gollancz S.F.)
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With his third novel Market Forces, Richard Morgan moves from the far-future SF violence of Altered Carbon and Broken Angels to almost equally extreme corporate violence in the mid-21st century. The hero, or antihero, Chris Faulkner is a rising executive in a Britain where the gap between suits and the underclass is huger than ever. Both promotion and competitive tendering in the cut-throat world of Conflict Investment (arms dealing) are settled by duels to the death: "Road-raging is here to stay."
The action happens in the nearly derelict arena of our motorway system--an executive playground--since the lower orders can no longer afford petrol. Individual drivers or teams manoeuvre to run the opposition permanently off the road in a Mad Max frenzy, no mercy asked or given. At first, Faulkner has a black mark for taking a defeated opponent to hospital instead of finishing the kill. He won't make that mistake again. After all, the latest management status symbol is the exclusive Nemesis-10 handgun.
International business decisions are tough ("Regime change is our worst-case scenario"), and there's no longer any safe distance between boardroom decisions and blood on the streets. As a big deal with revolutionary South American factions goes badly wrong, both careers and lives are on the line. This deadly game still has some rules of conduct, but getting to the top means pushing the envelope. Faulkner pushes hard enough to make you wince.
With terminal stress on his marriage, his battered conscience, and his few friendships, our man seems doomed to become either a monster or a mutilated corpse. Company backstabbing intensifies; the stakes are higher with each new challenge. One chancy way out of the rat race is offered, but maybe it's possible to get addicted to living on the edge?
An ultra-black, ultra-violent and intensely depressing vision of 2049's amoral Masters of the World. Compulsive reading for the un-squeamish; you can almost hear Michael Moore saying "I told you so". --David Langford
Review
His writing and dialogue are still as sharp as flick-knives... this is a real fast-forward thriller from a major talent. -- John Jarrold SFX It's a bleak, violent portrait of a world which is only a few heartbeats and regime changes from our own. Imagine Michael Moore, George Orwell and Philip K Dick collaborating on a novel and you're halfway to realising what a mind-blowing book this is. -- George Walkley Ink Magazine Morgan's depictions of road battles are truly stunning -- I challenge you to fold the page and put the book down in the middle of one -- you simply can't do it. Another "Certificate 18" killer read that you'd be a fool to miss! -- Stuart Carter Infinity Plus This near future thriller starts with a bang and immediately we know that we are once more in the company of the UK's freshest and hardest hitting of the new wave genre writers. Morgan's writing is as explosive and energized as one could hope for. This is an accessible and intensely exciting work. By far the sharpest book I've read in the last year, Market Forces is highly recommended. -- John Berlyne SFRevu
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
I'll not detail this review with all the things that go on in the book. I have read all Richard Morgan's work so far, and I love his style.
This book, I feel , is largely underrated because of its Chomsky-ish overtones, and people tend to get bogged down in politics. That is why I'm not going to go through that here. Instead, I found the real message of this book to be about relationships.
Morgan has a style rarely seen that details relationships very subtly, and doesn't get too involved. All the same I found myself caring more and more about what happened to the other characters in the book rather than the anti-hero Chris Faulkner. His wife, while caring and worrying, dealt nobly and realistically with the hate coming from Chris. I could also feel an affinity for Mike Bryant, Chris's immediate superior and friend, even though a cold killer.
Anyway, for my tuppence worth, I liked this book. It was dark, depressing, and in a Global Corporation/Republican regime, it was scarily possible (apart from the car duels).
As oil prices rise and work is the new religion, money is becoming the new god. I'm not religious. I'm just worried. As we spend more time away from our loved ones, into the arms of our jobs, who do we love?
I scared that all we may be left with is money and hand-wringing from the ones who care.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By S. Murphy
Format:Paperback
This is an excellent book that combines classic future society angst with Death Race 2000. If that sounds awful, trust me, it makes for a very compelling read.
As usual Morgan's writing and characterisation is gritty and in-your-face. Our (anti-) hero elicits limited sympathy from the reader as he ruthlessly and sefishly battles up the corporate ladder. British society has virtually collapsed into a semi-anarchic state where a corporate elite pretty much writes its own rules. Competion in business is literally cut-throat with 'road raging' being the preferred method of negotiation: to the survivors the spoils.
This isn't an intellectually challenging book but I found it emotionally satisfying at a number of levels. I think most fans of the cyber-punk genre will find it so too.
As usual Morgan's writing and characterisation is gritty and in-your-face. Our (anti-) hero elicits limited sympathy from the reader as he ruthlessly and sefishly battles up the corporate ladder. British society has virtually collapsed into a semi-anarchic state where a corporate elite pretty much writes its own rules. Competion in business is literally cut-throat with 'road raging' being the preferred method of negotiation: to the survivors the spoils.
This isn't an intellectually challenging book but I found it emotionally satisfying at a number of levels. I think most fans of the cyber-punk genre will find it so too.
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful
By C. McDonnell
Format:Paperback
Readers expecting a space opera along the lines of Altered Carbon and Broken Angels could be disappointed as the style here is somewhat different. But approach this allegorical tale of globalisation gone mad in the near future with an open mind and it is hugely enjoyable. It is also a more intimate and human story offering some insights into the gradual cooling of a relationship, which could be familiar to many modern males fighting to balance career with the demands of conscience and family life.
As with Morgan's other works, it contains dark humour, some well-depicted scenes of ultra-violence, and a wealth of ideas about the direction of future society. It also has something to say about business ethics; the unconverted could find this objectionable and the converted could find it unnecessary, but take it as a novelised version of Naomi Klein's No Logo and you should be just fine.
Richard Morgan quite clearly takes several ideas from William Gibson and runs with them - in this case mostly from Count Zero, one of the very best Gibson novels. (Identifying these is left as an exercise for the reader.) Morgan writes with the same outstanding clarity and precision and that is itself, to this reviewer, more than enough to make him truly Gibson's heir.
Possibly the whole book was sparked off by the geekly use of the expression 'road warrior' meaning a laptop-equipped corporate executive.
Some other potential inspirations:
Stand on Zanzibar (1969) by John Brunner
Gladiator-At-Law (1955) by Frederik Pohl and CM Kornbluth
Mindstar Rising (1993) by Peter Hamilton
Snow Crash (1992) by Neil Stephenson
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Richard Morgan & Takeshi Kovacs ...
Absolutely briliantly modern take on the cyberpunk genre, with action, betrayal and love interest aplenty.
Read it and see why.
Read it and see why.
Published 11 days ago by Vic
5.0 out of 5 stars
a not so sci-fi fiction
Morgan wrote it in the 90ies - but one could imagine this being the outcome of the economic collapse and dominoe-effects we experience today - the man was lucky or a visionary -... Read more
Published 1 month ago by M. Woischneck
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic tale - a mad max for corporate london
Mad max meets the arbitrageur (Gordon Gekko alike) - grippingly told tale of an England split into the super rich, above the law and the poor - abandoned to rot in squalid shanty... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Duncan Howorth
4.0 out of 5 stars
Chillingly plausible
One of the brightest stars in SF delivers the goods once again with this look at what could so easily become our future. Gripping stuff.
Published 5 months ago by A. Woolstencroft
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting
Could perhaps be accused of being Morgan's weakest book, though this would not mean it's bad. The corporate world Morgan has created is somewhat incredible, but, as ever, he has... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Balor of the Evil Eye
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Fun Read
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is a near futuristic fantasy that, unreal as some of the concepts were, was great fun to go along with. Read more
Published on 18 May 2011 by Derek Allen
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gives Iain Banks a run for his money
I have despaired of finding an author to match Iain M Banks but Richard Morgan achieved this with his Altered Carbon series. Read more
Published on 22 Mar 2011 by repsychlist
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not one of my favourites from Richard Morgan
Much as I like Richard Morgan's work in general - Tadeshi Kovacs trilogy and Black Man which I thought great, verging on genius - somehow Market Forces just didn't quite work for... Read more
Published on 8 May 2010 by Mr. Peter A. Gilligan
5.0 out of 5 stars
Chillingly possible
The kind of world described in this book is all too chillingly possible, and intelligent people looking at what is happening in the World now are already worried. Read more
Published on 2 May 2010 by Roy Brookes
1.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely ludicrous
I'm not going to give an analysis of the writing, characterisation, or the pace of the action. All that was irrelevant because I found the book unreadable due to the pure stupidity... Read more
Published on 15 Feb 2010 by Dancer
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