Description

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2026 CLIMATE FICTION PRIZE.

Corporations fall, gangsters are killed, but no-one messes with the Couriers Guild.

After the Cyber Wars cratered the internet, many saw a chance to pivot from a world order that was choking the planet. But not those profiting from it. They just shrugged, pivoted to an all-cash economy, and got back to making billions while the world burned.

When Armand Pierce joined the Couriers Guild, he had a titanium cuff bolted to his wrist and an attache case chained to it. He took an oath: the delivery is everything. It’s the Guild’s guarantee, and all business, legitimate or otherwise, depends on it. He can run, fight-kill, if he needs to-but the package gets where it’s going. Otherwise, he dies.

So Pierce knows he’s in deep trouble when he arrives at his latest destination to find his payload missing, his case mysteriously empty. Something strange is going on. Something that’s already cost three couriers their lives.

On the run from the guild’s assassins, Pierce must navigate a dense network of oligarchs, drugs dealers, private police forces, and brilliant but radical climate activists to get to the bottom of a scheme that could change everything.

Publisher Review

"Jon McGoran offers a brilliant-and frighteningly feasible-glimpse of the future, wrapped in a pulse-pounding package that'll have you turning the pages as fast as you can, then running to the bank to stockpile cash." -Rob Hart, author of The Warehouse and The Paradox Hotel "This ultraviolent and nonstop action sci-fi thriller delivers (no pun intended) all the goods. McGoran does a terrific job of worldbuilding, and readers will dig this blending of Blade Runner and John Wick." -firstCLUE "The Price of Everything is gritty future-noir, a sci-fi novel with a thriller's pacing, presented with a vividness that leaves a pit in your stomach and dirt under your fingernails. Highly recommended." -Edward Ashton, author of Mickey7 "The combination of climate apocalypse and political side effects, layered in levels of intrigue and mystery and leavened by romance, makes for an engrossing novel." -Library Journal "McGoran's nuanced characters are believable products of their denatured future and the suspenseful subterfuges they employ to survive keep the pacing brisk. It's a page-turning thrill ride." -Publishers Weekly "An entertaining read with a cinematic finish." -Booklist "The Price of Everything is razor sharp and relentless, a thrilling read that both honours and subverts the neon glow of cyberpunk. This book is a horrifyingly plausible dystopia set against the backdrop of the climate apocalypse and the collapse of the Internet of things. Timely and urgent, it rewires what the future could be, and will make you question everything you take for granted long after you put it down." -Lavanya Lakshminarayan, Arthur C. Clarke Award-nominated author of The Ten Percent Thief and the Flavour Hacker series "A cutting-edge humdinger of a science fiction tale... sure to please fans of William Gibson, Phillip K. Dick and Harlan Ellison. The Price of Everything carves out its own pop culture place as a masterstroke of contemporary commentary on the state of our digitally-dominated world. This is accessible science fiction storytelling of the absolute highest order." -BookTrib