Sign-In
Cart
The Halter
Paperback
Series: Forum, Book 1
Mystery & ThrillerScience Fiction
Publisher Price: $18.99
Please select the version of book you would like to purchase.
ISBN13: 9798895150887
Publisher: Diversion Books
Published: Feb 17 2026
Pages: 336
Weight: 0.60
Height: 1.01 Width: 5.61 Depth: 8.31
Language: English
Publisher: Diversion Books
Published: Feb 17 2026
Pages: 336
Weight: 0.60
Height: 1.01 Width: 5.61 Depth: 8.31
Language: English
Combining the inventive worldbuilding of Philip K. Dick and the elegiac longing of Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye and for fans of Ready Player One and Rabbits, The Halter by Darby McDevitt (lead writer for Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag) is a debut sci-fi novel that fuses cyber-noir, psychological suspense, and high-concept speculation in a breakneck search for truth inside a utopian metaverse on the verge of collapse In a world where virtual addiction kills, Kennedy Stark is paid to pull the plug. A professional halter--part detective, part counselor--he trawls the world's darkest surrogate-reality feeds in search of the lost. When he isn't working, he's dreaming of a one-way ticket to Mars, where a new colony has been established as a hopeful alternative to an Earth in the early stages of climate collapse. One evening, after a botched rescue attempt, a mysterious client offers Kennedy a tantalizing new case: brilliant software engineer Delia Walsh, who Kennedy fell in love with years ago, has disappeared inside a surrogate reality project called The Forum. Entering under an assumed identity, Kennedy finds a simulation unlike any other. The Forum bills itself as a tool for cutting-edge scientific research and radical philosophical investigations, but the signs of its corruption are everywhere. As Kennedy investigates, he learns Delia had been working on a new simulation that could upend The Forum's primary purpose, and that even in this prurient playground for the super wealthy, the dangers are very real. Brimming with black humor, hardboiled attitude, and a cast of endearing misfits lost in brittle fantasies, The Halter introduces a charismatic detective and heralds a unique and assured new voice in sci-fi crime.
Also from
McDevitt, Darby
Also in
Science Fiction
On the Calculation of Volume (Book I): Shortlisted for the 2025 International Booker Prize
Balle, Solvej
Paperback
$14.36
Red Rising 3-Book Box Set: Red Rising, Golden Son, Morning Star, and an Exclusive Extended Excerpt of Iron Gold
Brown, Pierce
Paperback
$55.10