The Heist of Hollow London

The Heist of Hollow London by Eddie Robson blends fascinating world-building and intriguing character development into a science fiction crime thriller. Robson divides his society into natural humans, “nats,” and clones of the ruling class, “mades”. “Mades” must work endlessly to pay off the debt of their existence. Arlo and Drienne are both “mades”. The company they worked for went out of business. Their contracts were then purchased to pull off a heist. Robson delivers a fun and exciting thriller with a plot full of twists and double-crosses.

Like any great heist novel, Robson assembles a highly skilled team, or the most flawed characters he could dream up. Even though Robson spends a lot of time setting up his crime of the century, it is anything but boring. His character development and world-building are outstanding. When it is finally time to pull off the job, not only does the action ramp up, but Robson throws in enough twists to keep any great armchair detective off kilter. Even though the ending is expected, how he got there isn’t. Robson’s novel is a wonderful blend of sci/fi and thriller that explores social hierarchy and runaway capitalism.