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3.38 of 5 stars
From acclaimed author Alexander C. Irvine comes a gritty near-future thriller in the paranoid, prophetic vein of Philip K. Dick and Richard K. Morg... read full description

reviews

Mar 25, 2011
Steve rated it: 4 of 5 stars
With great characters and a makes-ya-think central idea in a very viable near-future, Alex Irvine has written a book that caught me off guard. I was genuinely surprised by how much I enjoyed this title by an author I'd sadly never heard of. My thanks to Spectra for sending me the book in a giveaway that I won on their Facebook page.

I see Buyout as two types of books at once. First, it's an idea book. In the year 2040, the company Nautilus has pioneered a radical and controversial More...
Jan 02, 2011
Ariel rated it: 3 of 5 stars
This science fiction novel, Buyout, was a lot better than I expected. The what-if question driving this book's premise: what if a prisoner with a life sentence could volunteer to be executed and give the money that would have been spent on his incarceration to his family and community instead? I use the pronoun "he" intentionally because this book only addresses male prisoners.

The main characters are Martin and Charlie, best friends who work for the Nautilus corporation. M More...
Aug 09, 2009
Dave rated it: 3 of 5 stars
In "Buyout" Alexander Irvine presents a pretty fascinating future world. It's a noir drenched dystopia where radical, unchecked climate change have resulted in people fighting wars for things as simple as clean water, a new dust bowl devastates parts of America and Las Vegas has been reclaimed by the desert. Americans seem not bothered and almost fatalistic because they live in a culture connected by a vast communications network that offers countless distractions and illicit pleasure More...
Jul 03, 2009
Christina rated it: 3 of 5 stars
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Jul 01, 2010
Steven rated it: 3 of 5 stars
It was more interesting to me as 1) a meditation on principles versus humanity and 2) a warning not to ignore the present in favor of a possible future (the warnings for writing SF are obvious here). Irvine chooses to write omniscient 3rd person, which allows him to have some good one-liners and turns of phrase but also feels oddly disconnected. So mixed emotions on this one.
Oct 07, 2009
Karina rated it: 2 of 5 stars
The premise of this book sounded interesting, but I'm having a hard time getting into it. The main character isn't sympathetic to me, and the way he goes about thinking of ethical issues - err, or not thinking about them... I was thinking of how this relates to assisted suicide and then someone in the book just came out and said, "Assisted suicide has been legal for what, like 20 years?" Ouch! But I can see how it may come to that, and after all I'm interested in all sorts of dystopias More...
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Feb 25, 2010
Heather rated it: 4 of 5 stars
Offer inmates serving life in prison to choose a one-time cash payment to accept execution today; they can give the money to anyone they want- their families, their victims, charity, or even a stranger. What could possibly go wrong?
Feb 17, 2011
Jason rated it: 3 of 5 stars
An interesting premise, instead of letting people die of old age on death row, you offer them the chance to give out a sum of cash, which is the present day value of what it would cost to feed and house them until they die. In exchange they die now. Wasn't too happy what happened to the main character at the end of the story, but sometimes Justice is messed up.
Dec 09, 2010
Teresa rated it: 3 of 5 stars
not as SF as i hoped.
Mar 30, 2009
Ken rated it: 5 of 5 stars
0 comments like (2 people liked it)
May 20, 2009
Cathleen rated it: 2 of 5 stars
A provocative premise, but over one hundred pages in (for weeks now), I just keep choosing to go to other books. Several sources mention a change in tone half-way through, so perhaps I'll try again during a less chaotic time.
Jul 06, 2009
Ryun rated it: 4 of 5 stars
Alexander Irvine is an absolutely unique voice in speculative fiction. So many of the great voices in the genre are rooted in the action/adventure mold that the few who dare not to have sexy cyborgs or interplanetary warfare or awesome time travel tend to get lost on book shelves. Irvine’s latest, BUYOUT, even has a cover reminiscent of Richard K. Morgan’s MARKET FORCES, even though murderous car-to-car combat is about the furthest thing from what BUYOUT’s about.

Like THE NARROWS befo More...
Feb 07, 2012
Trenton rated it: 5 of 5 stars
Jan 17, 2012
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Dec 30, 2011
Christopher rated it: 5 of 5 stars
Dec 06, 2011
Karen K. added it
Oct 14, 2011
Jd rated it: 3 of 5 stars
Sep 27, 2011
Jess rated it: 5 of 5 stars
Sep 24, 2011
thistle added it
Sep 19, 2011
Sara rated it: 4 of 5 stars
Oct 13, 2011
Steven marked it as to-read
Jul 27, 2011
Alannaofdoom rated it: 3 of 5 stars
Jul 24, 2011
Wayne added it
Jun 11, 2011
Eddie marked it as to-read
Jun 08, 2011
Lana rated it: 2 of 5 stars
May 21, 2011
Shannon marked it as to-read
Sep 28, 2011
Tienyin marked it as to-read
Apr 07, 2011
Meghan L rated it: 3 of 5 stars
Apr 04, 2011
Chris rated it: 3 of 5 stars
Apr 02, 2011
Melissa marked it as to-read