Market Forces

By: Richard K. Morgan

Narrated by: Simon Vance

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?

©2005 Richard K. Morgan (P)2005 Tantor Media, Inc.

Critic reviews

• 2005 Audie Award Winner, Science-Fiction

"Convincing and compelling." (Publishers Weekly)

Worth the listen

I enjoy sci fi and have listened to many of the greats. Every so often I come across a sci fi novel that gives me new insight on the world that we live in now. Market Forces gives form to forces of human nature played out in a world only slightly different from ours. Different only in the sense it lays bare the results of actions that are only partially hidden in today’s world. .

Interesting, but not compelling.

Market Forces kind of reminded me of a really well written plot for a B movie. Gladiatorial combat with cars for career advancement cheapened an otherwise compelling plot. The concept was kind of stretched. It reminded me of knight rider from the 80's. (although much better written.) A good plot with intrigue and mystery was stretched thin to accommodate a car chase. Overall I found it entertaining but was disappointed by what it could have been.

five stars with better editing

Morgan is at top form; if you like hardboiled, visceral, unrelenting and unforgiving action and drama, then you're likely to enjoy anything he has ever written. The single reservation I have with this entry us the occasionally uneven editing between vocal cuts, pauses where there should sometimes be a smooth flow and, in other places a jarringly fast segue between chapters.
That's it, my only gripe.
This book, like any other written by this author, is not for the easily offended out faint of heart. You've been warned... but if these things aren't a problem for you, you'll likely snap up everything else in Morgan's library.

What a ride!

A dark and emotional action thriller that turns out to be a masterful satirical take on the world we live in.

Social satire played out a bit too long

As you probably guessed, this is Morgan's first big non-Kovacs novel, and the results are mixed. The book would have worked much better if it was shorter, as it is the premise of the ultra-competitive Mad Max in the boardroom investment bankers who literally kill for a deal runs a bit thin. Partially, this is because the characters are rather well drawn, making the weird cartoonishness of the world seem increasingly silly in comparison, and partially because the book gets bogged down in the moral miasma that it creates. Yes it satires the modern world, but the alternate universe it creates is so unpleasant that you quickly lose track of the parallels.


The book is saved from being a total cartoon (note that the plot is at least in part: Should the banker support evil governments for profit while staying with the hot women, or should he join the UN at the risk of his life while coming back to his wife?) by richly drawn characters. But the characters are so awful that you will grow to hate all of them. So, a good-ish listen, imaganinative and much better written then most science fiction on Audible, but not always pleasant.