{"product_id":"the-halter","title":"The Halter","description":"\u003cb\u003eCombining the comic absurdity of Stanislaw Lem’s \u003ci\u003eMemoirs Found in a Bathtub\u003c\/i\u003e with the inventive worldbuilding of Phillip K. Dick and the elegiac longing of Raymond Chandler, \u003ci\u003eThe Halter\u003c\/i\u003e is a debut sci-fi noir and the first in a series that takes a skeptical look at our unshakable appetite for escapism, featuring a compelling detective, a frustrated genius, and a utopian metaverse on the verge of collapse. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA mind-bending sci-fi thriller, \u003ci\u003eThe Halter\u003c\/i\u003e fuses cyber-noir, psychological suspense, and high-concept speculation into a breakneck search for truth inside a world built on lies.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e In a world where virtual addiction kills, Kennedy Stark is paid to pull the plug. A professional \u003ci\u003ehalter\u003c\/i\u003e—part detective, part counselor—he trawls the world’s darkest surrogate-reality feeds in search of the lost. When he isn’t working, he’s dreaming of a one-way ticket to Mars, where a new colony has been established as a hopeful alternative to an Earth in the early stages of climate collapse.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e One evening, after a botched rescue attempt, a mysterious client offers Kennedy a tantalizing new case: brilliant software engineer Delia Walsh, who Kennedy fell in love with years ago, has disappeared inside a secret surrogate reality project called \u003ci\u003eThe Forum\u003c\/i\u003e. Entering under an assumed identity, Kennedy finds a surrogate reality simulation unlike any he has ever seen. \u003ci\u003eThe Forum\u003c\/i\u003e bills itself as a tool for bleeding-edge scientific research and radical philosophical investigations, but the signs of its corruption are everywhere. Day by day, The Forum is devolving into a prurient playground for the world’s monied elite.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Before her disappearance, Delia had been working on a groundbreaking new simulation that threatened to upend \u003ci\u003eThe Forum\u003c\/i\u003e’s primary purpose. Her friends, her colleagues, and even the FBI are looking for her, and whoever finds her first, will discover \u003ci\u003eThe Forum\u003c\/i\u003e’s strangest secret yet…","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57495552557429,"sku":"9798895150887","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9798895150887.jpg?v=1786618219","url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/products\/the-halter","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}