[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/limit_2831.jpg]]

%%
%%
%%
%%
%%
%% Zero Context Examples are not allowed on wiki pages. All such examples have been commented out. Please add context before uncommenting them.
%%
%%
%%
%%
%%
%%
%%
%%
%%
''Limit'' is a 2009 novel by [[GermanMedia German author Frank Schätzing]] (who also wrote ''Literature/DerSchwarm'').

The year is 2025. Man has returned to the moon and started mining helium-3, an isotope needed for running fusion reactors. As you can imagine, shipping stuff to and from the moon is quite expensive, meaning that mankind is nevertheless still far away from not having to rely on fossil fuels anymore. Julian Orley, visionary and founder of ''[[MegaCorp Orley Industries]]'', wants to change this by means of a SpaceElevator. Also, he wants to establish moon tourism. To this end he gives a grand tour through his space and moon facilities for a hand-picked group of potential investors, [[FictionFiveHundred super-rich people]] from all around the world. At first, everything goes as planned, with everyone having a splendid time. But soon, trouble starts to crop up...

Meanwhile in China, PrivateDetective Owen Jericho gets hired to find his client's daughter, Chen "Yoyo" Yuyun, a {{cyber|Punk}}-[[LaResistance dissident]]. Owen soon discovers that Yoyo had to go into hiding because she accidentally stumbled over something she was not meant to see. Now the [[{{Determinator}} highly dangerous]], {{psycho|ForHire}}pathic [[ProfessionalKiller hitman]] Kenny Xin is close on her and Owen's heels...

!!Contains examples of:
%%* AnyoneCanDie
* AsianAndNerdy: Granted, Yoyo may not have many nerdy traits, but she is a computer expert.
* BlackDudeDiesFirst: The first to be killed by TheMole is not only black by ethnicity but his ''name'' is Black.
* BoomHeadshot: Happens several times during the story. ''Both'' YourHeadASplode and PrettyLittleHeadshots occur.
* BumblingDad: Julian Orley and Chen Hongbing.
* TheCameo: [[spoiler: Music/DavidBowie!]] (This got HarsherInHindsight with his RealLife death in 2016.)
* ChinaTakesOverTheWorld: China of the year 2025 is [[UsefulNotes/ToGetRichIsGlorious much like today]], only more CyberPunk-ish and competing with the USA over helium-3 mining sides on the moon.
* CoolCar: Owen's one can change colours.
* ConvectionSchmonvection: Averted in the beginning near the magma chamber, when characters ''do'' notice the searing heat.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: While most corporate executives in this story seem to be [[HonestCorporateExecutive decent people]], some are not.
%%* CyberPunk
%%* DarkAndTroubledPast: Especially Chen Hongbing [[spoiler:and Tian Tu.]]
%%* DefectiveDetective: Owen Jericho.
%%* {{Determinator}}: Kenny Xin.
* DoorStopper: Over 1000 pages, this book certainly qualifies.
%%* TheDragon: Kenny Xin.
%%* DysfunctionJunction
* EverythingIsBigInTexas: Chuck Donoghue fits the [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons rich Texan]] stereotype to a T, except that he isn't in the oil business.
* FailedFutureForecast: At one point, an InfoDump is given regarding the oil industry and its slow decline from ThePresentDay to 2025. The disastrous [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico]] would neatly have fitted in there, but alas, it happened one year after the book's publishing.
* FlyingCar: Most notably airbikes.
%%* GeniusBruiser: Daxiong.
%%* GoldenGun: Carl Hanna possesses one.
* InscrutableOriental: Kenny Xin, though occasionally his stoic facade gets some cracks.
* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Kenny Xin, the PsychoForHire and ProfessionalKiller. The last time he appears in a scene, he isn't even there in person, just to be heard via phone. In his last line of dialogue, he says that all the recent events have quite exhausted him, and he considers taking a holiday...]]
%%* LaResistance: Yoyo and her friends.
* MagicalNativeAmerican: Loreena Keowa, IntrepidReporter for a magazine called ''Greenwatch'', which covers environmental themes. Her appearance can be described as WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}} in a business suit.
%%* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler:Gerald Palstein.]]
%%* MegaCorp: ''Orley Industries''.
* MexicanStandoff [[spoiler: After one of the participants loses her nerves, it ends very bloody.]]
%%* TheMole: [[spoiler: More than one, actually.]]
* MonumentalBattle: On the top levels of the UsefulNotes/{{Shanghai}} [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_World_Financial_Center World Financial Center]], in the halls of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pergamon_Museum Pergamon Museum]] in UsefulNotes/{{Berlin}}, and in Orley's gigantic moon hotel. [[spoiler: The latter gets [[MonumentalDamage completely destroyed]] in the process.]]
* {{Mooks}}: Kenny has some as his posse. [[spoiler: Most of them die.]]
%%* MultinationalTeam: The employees of ''Orley Industries''. The travel group to the moon may also count.
* NeoAfrica: UsefulNotes/EquatorialGuinea is the first African country to launch a rocket into space.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The character of Julian Orley is quite obviously based on Richard Branson.
%%* {{Omniglot}}: Owen Jericho.
* OnlySaneMan: Tim Orley considers himself this. [[invoked]]
* PrivateMilitaryContractors: Kenny Xin and some other characters have been this in the past.
%%* PsychoForHire: Kenny Xin.
* PunchClockVillain: [[spoiler: When Kenny Xin realizes that his client's cover has been blown and his cause is lost, what does he do? He simply declares their contract to be expired and announces that he will ''take a holiday''.]]
* TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified: Averted. Although Julian Orley's plans for revolutionizing the energy industry via the worthwhile mining of helium-3 [[GreenAesop are portrayed as a generally good thing]], the issue of thousands of employees of the oil industry losing their jobs as a result is part of the story.
* ShoutOut: Julian Orley is an avid ScienceFiction fan, resulting in numerous in-universe shout outs to famous Sci-Fi works like ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' and ''Franchise/StarTrek'' within the facilities he built in space and on the moon.
** The novel has another obvious ShoutOut in Finn O'Keefe being an actor who got famous by playing ''Literature/PerryRhodan''.
* SpaceElevator: The whole premise of the novel is building one of these so the mining will be more economically feasible.
* TitleDrop:
--> You went beyond all limits, [[spoiler:Gerald]].
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: It takes place in 2025. Schätzing explained in an interview that although 2050 would be more realistic for the [[SpaceElevator technologies portrayed]], he considered it more important to immerse the reader in a time in which he or she might still be alive.
%%* ZeroGSpot
----