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* Does this remind you of anything: Will gives Zoey a talk about the history of Tabula Rasa and the principles behind it that is essentially a ReasonYouSuckSpeech for the whole city. He gives special attention to Arthur's belief that enough money and technology can solve all of the city's social ills, and how naive an idea that turned out to be. In real life, Pargin has frequently criticised tech billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg for espousing the same view while their products visibly make the world worse.
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* Does this remind you of anything: DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Will gives Zoey a talk about the history of Tabula Rasa and the principles behind it that is essentially a ReasonYouSuckSpeech for the whole city. He gives special attention to Arthur's belief that enough money and technology can solve all of the city's social ills, and how naive an idea that turned out to be. In real life, Pargin has frequently criticised tech billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg for espousing the same view while their products visibly make the world worse.
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* Does this remind you of anything: Will gives Zoey a talk about the history of Tabula Rasa and the principles behind it that is essentially a ReasonYouSuckSpeech for the whole city. He gives special attention to Arthur's belief that enough money and technology can solve all of the city's social ills, and how naive an idea that turned out to be. In real life, Pargin has frequently criticised tech billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg for espousing the same view while their products visibly make the world worse.
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* MyMasterRightOrWrong: Molech's henchmen are fanatically loyal to him, doing such things as surgically installing implants that are known to fail catastrophically and prioritizing firing on Molech's enemies over preserving their own lives. Molech insists their dedication is not to him but to, "the juice," a sort of chauvinist-supremacist ideology.
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* UndyingLoyalty: [[spoiler: Armando]] is killed by one of Molech's henchmen still firing on him while falling to his death. The goon had more concern for following Molech's orders than his own imminent death.
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* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Arthur and the Suits have done a lot of bad things, and the narrative does not let you forget it.
** Zoey's and Arthur's ages (22 and 58, respectively) are revealed early on. Zoey's mother's age isn't revealed until more than halfway through: [[spoiler: 38]]. Meaning Arthur knocked her up when he was 36 and she was [[spoiler: 16]].
** Zoey's and Arthur's ages (22 and 58, respectively) are revealed early on. Zoey's mother's age isn't revealed until more than halfway through: [[spoiler: 38]]. Meaning Arthur knocked her up when he was 36 and she was [[spoiler: 16]].
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* CoversAlwaysLie: The book's blurb on Audible references a group called "The Men in Fancy Suits," and describes a city full of superheroes, painting a picture closer to something along the lines of ''Literature/SoonIWillBeInvincible'' than the sarcastic {{Cyberpunk}} novel it is.
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* Abusive parents: Zoey doesn't have a good record with father figures. Her mom seems genuinely kind, if a bit oblivious.
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* Abusive parents: AbusiveParents: Zoey doesn't have a good record with father figures. figures. Her mom seems genuinely kind, if a bit oblivious.
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* Abusive parents: Zoey doesn't have a good record with father figures. Her mom seems genuinely kind, if a bit oblivious.
** Zoey's biological father knocked up her mom up and vanished, laying eyes on Zoey exactly twice before dying. He then left her an inheritance that served as a lightning rod for every thug and villain Tabula Rasa could scrape together.
** Zoey has a burn on her shoulder from when one of her stepfathers held her down to an electric stove and turned it on. She still has nightmares about him.
** Another stepdad found an excuse to barge in on her whenever she was indecent. She makes it clear that it was much about making her uncomfortable as it was about seeing her body.
** Zoey's biological father knocked up her mom up and vanished, laying eyes on Zoey exactly twice before dying. He then left her an inheritance that served as a lightning rod for every thug and villain Tabula Rasa could scrape together.
** Zoey has a burn on her shoulder from when one of her stepfathers held her down to an electric stove and turned it on. She still has nightmares about him.
** Another stepdad found an excuse to barge in on her whenever she was indecent. She makes it clear that it was much about making her uncomfortable as it was about seeing her body.
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* GuileHero: Will Blackwater is heavy on the guile and light on the hero.
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* WalkingShirtlessScene: Molech and his henchmen are all buff and shirtless at all times, even though the novel takes place in December.
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* BoomHeadshot: [[spoiler: The Hyena.]]
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* ParentalAbandonment: Zoey only saw her dad twice. Then the plot started...
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* RougeAnglesOfSatin: Wong talks about a gun being equipped with "Tactical sites" instead of "sights".
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* StandardFemaleGrabArea: Lampshaded--Zoey gets grabbed on the upper arm so much she has bruises, and the bruises hurt when she gets grabbed there yet again!
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* {{Expy}}: Will Blackwater's personality and appearance seems more than a little influenced by [[Series/MadMen Don Draper]].
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** The plot itself is either a ShoutOut or WholePlotReference ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas,'' with [[spoiler: Arthur's lucky coin]] and the Platinum Chip both being small, round objects hiding that they carry software updates for superweapons currently being held back by buggy drivers.
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** The plot itself is either a ShoutOut or WholePlotReference to ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas,'' with [[spoiler: Arthur's lucky coin]] and the Platinum Chip both being small, round objects hiding that they carry software updates for superweapons currently being held back by buggy drivers.
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** The plot itself is either a ShoutOut or WholePlotReference ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas,'' with [[spoiler: Arthur's lucky coin]] and the Platinum Chip both being small, round objects hiding that they carry software updates for superweapons currently being held back by buggy drivers.
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* ShoutOut: The "gold" that Molech is searching for is [[spoiler: updated driver software]] stored on [[spoiler: Arthur's lucky coin]], that he intends to use to conquer the world. Players of ''FalloutNewVegas'' will be struck by the similarity to that game's MacGuffin, Mr. House's Platinum Chip.
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* ShoutOut: The "gold" that Molech is searching for is [[spoiler: updated driver software]] stored on [[spoiler: Arthur's lucky coin]], that he intends to use to conquer the world. Players of ''FalloutNewVegas'' will be struck by the similarity to that game's MacGuffin, Mr. House's Platinum Chip.
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* KickTheDog: Just in case you were starting to think that Arthur was a loveable rogue, part of his backstory goes into how he met Will, Budd, and Andre. It involves him [[spoiler: sex trafficking underage refugees out of a war zone, then sending one specific teenage girl back to the father that she chose a life of sexual slavery over]]. The flashback ends with the statement that a dead woman in her early twenties appearing in front of Livingston Tower isn't a particularly unique event.
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** Arthur Livingston might also count. Part of his backstory explicitly involves sex trafficking of refugees that Arthur knows for a fact are underage.
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fixing a typo cause I'm an idiot don't mind me
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* InterchangeableAsianCultures: Parodied and PlayedWith, twice actually: Wu is ethically Chinese and was born in California, but plays into Japanese Samurai tropes, seemingly because he thinks it's just cooler, and Echo is assumed to be a genius Chinese computer hacker for the entire book, until she reveals near the end that most of her computer skills are just common sense and she's actually Filipino.
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* InterchangeableAsianCultures: Parodied and PlayedWith, twice actually: Wu is ethically ethnically Chinese and was born in California, but plays into Japanese Samurai tropes, seemingly because he thinks it's just cooler, and Echo is assumed to be a genius Chinese computer hacker for the entire book, until she reveals near the end that most of her computer skills are just common sense and she's actually Filipino.
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* BaitAndSwitch: Three of them in quick succession right in the beginning, where the narrator uses [[ExpospeakGag sinister, post-apocalyptic sounding terms]] to describe Zoey's routine, which are just normal things like the Wendy's drive thru and chili, to establish that this future isn't too far off from now.
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* InterchangeableAsianCultures: Parodied and PlayedWith, twice actually: Wu is Chinese but plays into Japanese Samurai tropes, seemingly because he thinks it's just cooler, and Echo is assumed to be a genius Chinese computer hacker for the entire book, until she reveals near the end that most of her computer skills are just common sense and she's actually Filipino.
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* InterchangeableAsianCultures: Parodied and PlayedWith, twice actually: Wu is ethically Chinese and was born in California, but plays into Japanese Samurai tropes, seemingly because he thinks it's just cooler, and Echo is assumed to be a genius Chinese computer hacker for the entire book, until she reveals near the end that most of her computer skills are just common sense and she's actually Filipino.
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* {{Cyberpunk}}: The novel features cybernetic implants that impart superhuman abilities, constant surveillance, and a casual disregard for human life, all on the backdrop of an Anarcho-Capitalist WretchedHive.
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* TheMole: [[spoiler: Gary the Gardener, who, hilariously, had never been described or had any lines until the reveal and had only been mentioned off handedly in one or two scenes as a background detail. Will notes that his being completely uninteresting was what made him so good at sabotaging the team.]]
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* NewMediaAreEvil: The plot is predicated on a near-futute platform called Blink where millions of people stream their lives through smart glasses or small cameras. The plot specifically relies on Blink hosting content that includes torture and murder. For comparison, YouTube and Twitch struggle with issues like profanity and exposed nipples.
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* NewMediaAreEvil: The plot is predicated on a near-futute platform called Blink where millions of people stream their lives through smart glasses or small cameras. The plot specifically relies on Blink hosting content that includes torture and murder. For comparison, YouTube [=YouTube=] and Twitch struggle with issues like profanity and exposed nipples.
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* DeadpanSnarker: It's a David Wong novel so every single character, hero, villain, and even the narrator counts, but special mention goes to protagonist Zoey, who can't go a single page without a sarcastic one-liner.
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Wrong trope
* TechnologyMarchesOn: Just starting to leak in. The all-electric, self-driving cars in the novel are said to have become mainstream starting in 2020. Additionally, the augmented reality glasses that are ubiquitous in the setting seemed like the next technological innovation when the book was being written, but never took off in the real world.
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* {{Zeerust}}: Just starting to leak in. The all-electric, self-driving cars in the novel are said to have become mainstream starting in 2020.
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* {{Zeerust}}: Just starting to leak in. The all-electric, self-driving cars in the novel are said to have become mainstream starting in 2020.
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* NewMediaAreEvil: The plot is predicated on a near-futute platform called Blink where millions of people stream their lives through smart glasses or small cameras. The plot specifically relies on Blink hosting content that includes torture and murder. For comparison, YouTube and Twitch struggle with issues like profanity and exposed nipples.
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* BrickJoke: During the Hyena's viewpoint chapter, he debates whether he wants to be called, "the Hyena," because he seems to remember something about female hyenas having penises and giving birth through them and is concerned that might muddle the meaning of the moniker. The first thing out of Zoe's mouth when she learns she's being chased by a guy calling himself "the Hyena," is, "Does he give birth through his penis?"
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* TwistedChristmas: The book takes place in the days leading up until Christmas, with holiday decorations everywhere amid the carnage.
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zero context example
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* AngryWhiteMan: Molech's personality, role and motivation. He does admire black people, but only because slavery made them tougher than white people, which raises some UnfortunateImplications for his BlackBestFriend Scott.
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* AngryWhiteMan: Molech's personality, role and motivation. He does admire black people, but only because slavery made them tougher than white people, which raises some UnfortunateImplications for his BlackBestFriend TokenBlackFriend Scott.
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* BlackBestFriend: Black Scott to Molech.
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* InterchangeableAsianCultures: Parodied and PlayedWith, twice actually: Wu is Chinese but plays into Japanese Samurai tropes, seemingly because he thinks it's just cooler, and Echo is assumed to be a genius Chinese computer hacker for the entire book, until she reveals near the end that most of her computer skills are just common sense and she's actually Filipino.
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** Parodied with "The Jackal/Hyena/Lion/Piranha" who can't settle on a good alias and ends up constantly changing it, at one point going with "The Bite-Master" when rushed.
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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/futuristic_suits.png]]
The third book by David Wong and the first not in his ''Literature/JohnDiesAtTheEnd'' series.
The book takes place TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture and features a young woman named Zoey Ashe, whose MillionairePlayboy father just passed away. Now Zoey, who lived in a trailer park and had nothing to do with her father, is on the run from all sorts of superpowered thugs who want to kidnap her because she is apparently the key to her fathers vault.
A sequel, titled "Zoey Punches the Future in the Dick", is set to be released on October 13, 2020.
-----
!!Provides examples of:
* AboveTheInfluence: Armando resists Zoey's advances [[spoiler: at first.]]
* AbsurdlySharpBlade: It seems like the sword Wu gives to Armando is one. [[spoiler: In reality Armando just uses his Raiden implants for the first time.]]
* ActionGirl: Vixxxen seems to be one for the League of Badass.
* ActionSurvivor: Zoey doesn't know how to fight. But she's really good at running away, and, failing that, exploiting her enemy's weaknesses to buy herself time.
* AdmiringTheAbomination / DistractedByTheSexy: the first thing Zoey does when she sees a video of Molech? Check out his abs.
* AGodAmI: MOLECH specifically says he has the powers of a god and plans to destroy two places of worship to taunt people who believe in gods.
* TheAlcoholic: Andre. Also Will to an extent.
* AllMenArePerverts: Mentioned by Andre in reference to Arthur's [[PlayboyBunny hologram]] that answers the door.
* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents: Zoey's mother insists on her taking cranberry pills to avoid getting a UTI even though there is a good chance Zoey is going to her death.... and works as a stripper at a Zombie-themed topless bar.
* AngryWhiteMan: Molech's personality, role and motivation. He does admire black people, but only because slavery made them tougher than white people, which raises some UnfortunateImplications for his BlackBestFriend Scott.
* ArtificialLimbs: Common among the Raiden-enhanced supersoldiers. The serial killer stalking Zoey gives himself an artificial jaw, later.
* AtrociousAlias: The serial killer hunting Zoey constantly renames himself. None of the names are particularly cool or threatening.
* BigBrotherIsWatching: Subverted. Tabula Ra$a is completely devoid of government, but nearly every member of the public has a recording device of some kind.
* BigEater: Andre seems to be one.
* BlackAndGreyMorality: The Suits and their deceased boss Arthur are ''not'' good people, having dabbled in sex trafficking, allowing the city to fall into decay while they live like kings and Arthur conceived Zoey with a 16-year-old stripper when he was in his 30s. That being said, they have the potential to make things better under Zoey's management, while Molech's gang are terrorists in the truest sense of the word.
* BlackBestFriend: Black Scott to Molech.
* TheChessmaster: Will Blackwater [[spoiler: but Zoey helps with the grand finale]]
* CoolCar: The Bugatti. The mobile command station probably also counts.
--> '''Zoey''': Is that an expensive one?
--> '''Armando''': This is a 2020 Bugatti Chiron. Fifteen hundred horsepower, widely thought to be the apex of the gasoline-powered automobile. Only thirty of them were manufactured. At top speed it gets three miles to the gallon, which means you could get a five-hundred-dollar ticket just for being caught driving it today."
--> '''Zoey''': Looks pretty cool.
--> '''Armando''': This, Zoey, is a twenty-million-dollar car.
--> '''Zoey''': Oh. Wow. I bet the insurance is outrageous.
* CorporateSamurai: Wu
* DeathBySex: [[spoiler: Armando gets himself shot shortly after giving in and sleeping with Zoey.]]
* DefrostingIceQueen: Echo starts the book condescending and rude to Zoey, but after seeing that she's both overwhelmed and very capable she starts warming up to her.
* DisgustingPublicToilet: Mentioned twice by Echo, first the bathroom in the mold room, second the public bathrooms at Arthur's memorial. It's possible that Echo is just a bit of a germaphobe.
* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: Singh uses a Chimp to demonstrate Raiden to Arthur.
* EvilGloating: Played with when the Hyena catches up to Zoey in Livingston's mansion. He ''tries''. But Zoey's not having it, and shouts over him until he gives up and charges her.
-->Zoey: "DOO DOO DOO DOO NOBODY CAN HEAR YOUR EVIL MONOLOGUE AND CREATIVE RAPE THREATS! BUTT SHOW, BUTT SHOW BABY--"
** Played much, much straighter with Molech at the climax, mixed with TheReasonYouSuckSpeech.
* FeelingOppressedByTheirExistence: Molech and his goons hate anyone who isn't superhuman.
* FiveManBand : The Suits.
** TheLeader: Arthur/[[spoiler:Zoey]]
** TheLancer: Will
** TheSmartGuy: Echo
** TheBigGuy: Andre
** TheChick: Budd
* ForeShadowing: Everyone in Blink's obsessive need to tape everything, and the Hyena's specific need to kill Zoey for an audience after dramatically monologuing (to the point that Armando has time to shoot him while he's trying to get his camera back), foreshadow Molech's biggest weakness: He's a diva.
* ForgettableCharacter: Gary the Gardener
* FriendToAllLivingThings: Wu. At one point Zoey asks where he is, and is told that he found a spider; he gently took the spider and brought it outside.
* GoofyPrintUnderwear: Zoey bemoans the fact that she is going to die in Underwear that say 'Shark Week' across the butt.
* HateSink: Molech. The guy embodies all the traits of fratbros, [=MRAs=], popular jocks and trust fund manboys, culminating in an entity that's just begging for a punch.
* HodgepodgeComputer: The scientists who put together Raiden used programming languages that 'don't look human', making their final work completely impenetrable to outsiders.
* KindheartedCatLover: Despite her lack of refinement, Zoey is the only character who maintains a sense of compassion for the sake of compassion. In the event of her death, she repeatedly tells the suits to find her cat Stench Machine a good home.
* KissMeImVirtual: Candi, the stripper hologram at the Livingston Estate.
* TheManBehindTheMan: At the end, Zoey and Will discuss the possibility that an unknown person was most likely using Molech as a frontman as Molech clearly wasn't intelligent enough to have been doing everything on his own. Thus setting up a SequelHook.
* MrViceGuy: Arthur Livingston.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Armando. [[spoiler: After getting the gold update for his implants, he goes into Molech's base alone. While he initially looks like a OneManArmy, he is eventually killed by a stray bullet to the throat. Molech's tech expert is able to download the gold from Armando's dead body, making him and his men virtually unstoppable.]]
* OnlySaneMan: Black Scott is one for Molech's group.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Molech enjoys threatening Zoey with gang-rape when he's not making fun of her weight. His views on black people also make his henchmen cringe a few times.
* PhlebotinumBreakdown: The Raiden tech implants were stolen with only the Alpha software in them, before the final "Gold" software was uploaded. Thus, each use of the implants carries a serious risk of malfunction, which usually causes the subject to ''explode''.
* ReallyGetsAround: Seems to run in the Livingston family.
* RealityEnsues: For a science fiction novel, it features quite a few examples.
** Just because you ''can'' bite through metal doesn't mean you ''should'', Hyena. He cuts up the insides of his mouth every time he does.
** Even graduates of the ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy will score a hit occasionally... just ask [[spoiler: Armando.]]
** The Suits tend to point this out to Zoey whenever she brings up ideas about getting altruistic with her newfound riches. Sure, she can order pizza for an entire complex of homeless squatters, but will that really help them in the long run?
** Zoey sustains some very nasty injuries during her final fight with Molech. She ends up needing six hours of surgery and finishes the book bedridden and needing a nurse to help her to the bathroom as she slowly recovers.
* RedBaron: All of The Suits have earned unique badass titles: Budd is "The Regulator," Andre is "Black Mountain," Echo is known more by her nickname than her real name (Michelle) and Will is "The Magician." Zoey discovers she's earned one of these herself: [[spoiler:Cat Boobs.]]
* RedHerring: Once Molech slips that there's a mole among the suits, the book takes pains to point out suspicious behavior among pretty much every member. Echo is the newest member of the group, Will describes a manipulation tactic that perfectly matches a stunt Budd and Andre pulled, and Wu disappears to get rid of a spider right before an important meeting. [[spoiler: Once it's revealed that it was Gary the Gardener the entire time, all of these become obvious red herrings.]]
* RightHandCat: Stench Machine. [[spoiler: Andre uses a whole bunch as part of the plan to thwart Molech.]]
* SexSlave: Arthur Livingston trafficked women from the Orient into America in exchange for their "services".
* ShoutOut: Shoutouts occur to ''Franchise/HarryPotter'', ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', and ''Literature/TheRing''.
* StrangeMindsThinkAlike: One of the many names the Jackal considers is "The Hyena", but he rethinks when he remembers that female hyenas have penises (which is kind of true) and worries that people might think he has weird genitals. Just a few pages later when Will mentions him by that name Zoey's first thought is to wonder if he can give birth through his penis.
* TeenyWeenie: [[spoiler: Zoey and the suits erect a skyscraper in the shape of Molech, complete with micro-dick.]]
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: It's not specified when the story takes place, but Jaden Smith is a major movie star.
* SingleMomStripper: Zoey's mother works as a topless waitress.
* SinisterSurveillance: Zoey's mother is broadcast across the entire city as a way of freaking Zoey out.
* SkyscraperCity: Tabula Ra$a. Even the homeless live in a building that's at least 20 stories tall.
* ViceCity / WretchedHive: Tabula Rasa is a place where Social Darwinism is the only law and the death of any random citizen is just good entertainment. Creator/FrankMiller would love it.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: [[spoiler: When Molech's men are getting killed off, we hear Black Scott try a FaceHeelTurn, but it's never made clear if he got away.]]
----
The third book by David Wong and the first not in his ''Literature/JohnDiesAtTheEnd'' series.
The book takes place TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture and features a young woman named Zoey Ashe, whose MillionairePlayboy father just passed away. Now Zoey, who lived in a trailer park and had nothing to do with her father, is on the run from all sorts of superpowered thugs who want to kidnap her because she is apparently the key to her fathers vault.
A sequel, titled "Zoey Punches the Future in the Dick", is set to be released on October 13, 2020.
-----
!!Provides examples of:
* AboveTheInfluence: Armando resists Zoey's advances [[spoiler: at first.]]
* AbsurdlySharpBlade: It seems like the sword Wu gives to Armando is one. [[spoiler: In reality Armando just uses his Raiden implants for the first time.]]
* ActionGirl: Vixxxen seems to be one for the League of Badass.
* ActionSurvivor: Zoey doesn't know how to fight. But she's really good at running away, and, failing that, exploiting her enemy's weaknesses to buy herself time.
* AdmiringTheAbomination / DistractedByTheSexy: the first thing Zoey does when she sees a video of Molech? Check out his abs.
* AGodAmI: MOLECH specifically says he has the powers of a god and plans to destroy two places of worship to taunt people who believe in gods.
* TheAlcoholic: Andre. Also Will to an extent.
* AllMenArePerverts: Mentioned by Andre in reference to Arthur's [[PlayboyBunny hologram]] that answers the door.
* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents: Zoey's mother insists on her taking cranberry pills to avoid getting a UTI even though there is a good chance Zoey is going to her death.... and works as a stripper at a Zombie-themed topless bar.
* AngryWhiteMan: Molech's personality, role and motivation. He does admire black people, but only because slavery made them tougher than white people, which raises some UnfortunateImplications for his BlackBestFriend Scott.
* ArtificialLimbs: Common among the Raiden-enhanced supersoldiers. The serial killer stalking Zoey gives himself an artificial jaw, later.
* AtrociousAlias: The serial killer hunting Zoey constantly renames himself. None of the names are particularly cool or threatening.
* BigBrotherIsWatching: Subverted. Tabula Ra$a is completely devoid of government, but nearly every member of the public has a recording device of some kind.
* BigEater: Andre seems to be one.
* BlackAndGreyMorality: The Suits and their deceased boss Arthur are ''not'' good people, having dabbled in sex trafficking, allowing the city to fall into decay while they live like kings and Arthur conceived Zoey with a 16-year-old stripper when he was in his 30s. That being said, they have the potential to make things better under Zoey's management, while Molech's gang are terrorists in the truest sense of the word.
* BlackBestFriend: Black Scott to Molech.
* TheChessmaster: Will Blackwater [[spoiler: but Zoey helps with the grand finale]]
* CoolCar: The Bugatti. The mobile command station probably also counts.
--> '''Zoey''': Is that an expensive one?
--> '''Armando''': This is a 2020 Bugatti Chiron. Fifteen hundred horsepower, widely thought to be the apex of the gasoline-powered automobile. Only thirty of them were manufactured. At top speed it gets three miles to the gallon, which means you could get a five-hundred-dollar ticket just for being caught driving it today."
--> '''Zoey''': Looks pretty cool.
--> '''Armando''': This, Zoey, is a twenty-million-dollar car.
--> '''Zoey''': Oh. Wow. I bet the insurance is outrageous.
* CorporateSamurai: Wu
* DeathBySex: [[spoiler: Armando gets himself shot shortly after giving in and sleeping with Zoey.]]
* DefrostingIceQueen: Echo starts the book condescending and rude to Zoey, but after seeing that she's both overwhelmed and very capable she starts warming up to her.
* DisgustingPublicToilet: Mentioned twice by Echo, first the bathroom in the mold room, second the public bathrooms at Arthur's memorial. It's possible that Echo is just a bit of a germaphobe.
* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: Singh uses a Chimp to demonstrate Raiden to Arthur.
* EvilGloating: Played with when the Hyena catches up to Zoey in Livingston's mansion. He ''tries''. But Zoey's not having it, and shouts over him until he gives up and charges her.
-->Zoey: "DOO DOO DOO DOO NOBODY CAN HEAR YOUR EVIL MONOLOGUE AND CREATIVE RAPE THREATS! BUTT SHOW, BUTT SHOW BABY--"
** Played much, much straighter with Molech at the climax, mixed with TheReasonYouSuckSpeech.
* FeelingOppressedByTheirExistence: Molech and his goons hate anyone who isn't superhuman.
* FiveManBand : The Suits.
** TheLeader: Arthur/[[spoiler:Zoey]]
** TheLancer: Will
** TheSmartGuy: Echo
** TheBigGuy: Andre
** TheChick: Budd
* ForeShadowing: Everyone in Blink's obsessive need to tape everything, and the Hyena's specific need to kill Zoey for an audience after dramatically monologuing (to the point that Armando has time to shoot him while he's trying to get his camera back), foreshadow Molech's biggest weakness: He's a diva.
* ForgettableCharacter: Gary the Gardener
* FriendToAllLivingThings: Wu. At one point Zoey asks where he is, and is told that he found a spider; he gently took the spider and brought it outside.
* GoofyPrintUnderwear: Zoey bemoans the fact that she is going to die in Underwear that say 'Shark Week' across the butt.
* HateSink: Molech. The guy embodies all the traits of fratbros, [=MRAs=], popular jocks and trust fund manboys, culminating in an entity that's just begging for a punch.
* HodgepodgeComputer: The scientists who put together Raiden used programming languages that 'don't look human', making their final work completely impenetrable to outsiders.
* KindheartedCatLover: Despite her lack of refinement, Zoey is the only character who maintains a sense of compassion for the sake of compassion. In the event of her death, she repeatedly tells the suits to find her cat Stench Machine a good home.
* KissMeImVirtual: Candi, the stripper hologram at the Livingston Estate.
* TheManBehindTheMan: At the end, Zoey and Will discuss the possibility that an unknown person was most likely using Molech as a frontman as Molech clearly wasn't intelligent enough to have been doing everything on his own. Thus setting up a SequelHook.
* MrViceGuy: Arthur Livingston.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Armando. [[spoiler: After getting the gold update for his implants, he goes into Molech's base alone. While he initially looks like a OneManArmy, he is eventually killed by a stray bullet to the throat. Molech's tech expert is able to download the gold from Armando's dead body, making him and his men virtually unstoppable.]]
* OnlySaneMan: Black Scott is one for Molech's group.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Molech enjoys threatening Zoey with gang-rape when he's not making fun of her weight. His views on black people also make his henchmen cringe a few times.
* PhlebotinumBreakdown: The Raiden tech implants were stolen with only the Alpha software in them, before the final "Gold" software was uploaded. Thus, each use of the implants carries a serious risk of malfunction, which usually causes the subject to ''explode''.
* ReallyGetsAround: Seems to run in the Livingston family.
* RealityEnsues: For a science fiction novel, it features quite a few examples.
** Just because you ''can'' bite through metal doesn't mean you ''should'', Hyena. He cuts up the insides of his mouth every time he does.
** Even graduates of the ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy will score a hit occasionally... just ask [[spoiler: Armando.]]
** The Suits tend to point this out to Zoey whenever she brings up ideas about getting altruistic with her newfound riches. Sure, she can order pizza for an entire complex of homeless squatters, but will that really help them in the long run?
** Zoey sustains some very nasty injuries during her final fight with Molech. She ends up needing six hours of surgery and finishes the book bedridden and needing a nurse to help her to the bathroom as she slowly recovers.
* RedBaron: All of The Suits have earned unique badass titles: Budd is "The Regulator," Andre is "Black Mountain," Echo is known more by her nickname than her real name (Michelle) and Will is "The Magician." Zoey discovers she's earned one of these herself: [[spoiler:Cat Boobs.]]
* RedHerring: Once Molech slips that there's a mole among the suits, the book takes pains to point out suspicious behavior among pretty much every member. Echo is the newest member of the group, Will describes a manipulation tactic that perfectly matches a stunt Budd and Andre pulled, and Wu disappears to get rid of a spider right before an important meeting. [[spoiler: Once it's revealed that it was Gary the Gardener the entire time, all of these become obvious red herrings.]]
* RightHandCat: Stench Machine. [[spoiler: Andre uses a whole bunch as part of the plan to thwart Molech.]]
* SexSlave: Arthur Livingston trafficked women from the Orient into America in exchange for their "services".
* ShoutOut: Shoutouts occur to ''Franchise/HarryPotter'', ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', and ''Literature/TheRing''.
* StrangeMindsThinkAlike: One of the many names the Jackal considers is "The Hyena", but he rethinks when he remembers that female hyenas have penises (which is kind of true) and worries that people might think he has weird genitals. Just a few pages later when Will mentions him by that name Zoey's first thought is to wonder if he can give birth through his penis.
* TeenyWeenie: [[spoiler: Zoey and the suits erect a skyscraper in the shape of Molech, complete with micro-dick.]]
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: It's not specified when the story takes place, but Jaden Smith is a major movie star.
* SingleMomStripper: Zoey's mother works as a topless waitress.
* SinisterSurveillance: Zoey's mother is broadcast across the entire city as a way of freaking Zoey out.
* SkyscraperCity: Tabula Ra$a. Even the homeless live in a building that's at least 20 stories tall.
* ViceCity / WretchedHive: Tabula Rasa is a place where Social Darwinism is the only law and the death of any random citizen is just good entertainment. Creator/FrankMiller would love it.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: [[spoiler: When Molech's men are getting killed off, we hear Black Scott try a FaceHeelTurn, but it's never made clear if he got away.]]
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