Foundry is a near future spy thriller about the semiconductor industry that feels carefully pieced together from bite-sized chunks of insight.
The book is short, but its style is refreshing and full of character. Peper keeps the chapters small and punchy. The sentences themselves are so much a part of the art that I'm going to just quote a couple of them:
"But when everyone treats you like a hot commodity, it's easy to forget that you are a commodity."
"If anyone can learn to live with anything, then your life is defined by what you choose to live with."
Peper even pulls in philosophical flourishes that echo Paul Graham essays. I won't quote the full passage, but Peper condenses
Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule into just a few offhand sentences, all while keeping the action moving forward.
So that's my review, it's a solid 'recommended' from me.
The only other thing I want to mention before I go is that there's a really fun fourth wall break near the end. Ostensibly spoken by the unreliable narrator, this sentence works equally well coming from the author: "I refuse to believe that anyone with such generic taste would make it this far in this particular narrative. ... We're here, now, together. And that means you're my kind of weirdo..."
You're my kind of weirdo too.
Joe
Full disclosure, I was sent an ARC of the novel for review purposes. You can find links to
Foundry on
eliotpeper.com. You might also want to sign up for the author's newsletter while you're at it.