'A biting satire that exposes American money, greed and elitism' Sunday Independent

From the bestselling author of Fight Club comes a dark, satirical parable about a string of mysterious high school disappearances, the seedy underbellies of billionaires, and the tough choices we make in the face of an uncertain future.

In Shock Induction, the best and brightest students at a seemingly reputable high school are disappearing. Every day it seems another overachiever is lost to an apparent suicide. But something far more sinister is lurking beneath the surface.

These kids have been under surveillance since birth, monitored and measured by an online service called "Greener Pastures." It's here, in Greener Pastures, that billionaires observe and recruit the next generation of talent. The highest test scores, the best grades, and the most niche extracurriculars just might land these teenagers an enticing offer at auction. A couple billion dollars in exchange for the remainder of your life and intellectual labor sounds like a pretty fair deal-doesn't it?

In a high school only Chuck Palahniuk could imagine, students must choose between the risk of following their dreams or the security of money and a lifetime of servitude to the world's wealthiest and most elite-but how much of a choice do they truly have?

'Wild, gross, undeniably energetic - like a punk version of Kazuo Ishiguro's Klara and the Sun' -- Anthony Cummins * Daily Mail Scottish Bureau *
'A biting satire that exposes American money, greed and elitism' * Sunday Independent *
'Palahniuk reinvents his writing style for this slim volume, which moves at a quick pace with lots of big ideas and dark humour' * Variety *
'Die-hard Palahniuk fans will lap this up' * Publishers Weekly *
'Readers' choice whether this is a coded message, a spiked cocktail, or just a secret love letter to art' * Kirkus Reviews *
'What sets Shock Induction apart in the Palahniuk oeuvre is its experimentation with form, rendered with a playfulness directed straight out of the page at the reader... Shock Induction is not your standard novel. But Palahniuk is not your standard novelist' * Seattle Times *

Chuck Palahniuk's fifteen novels include the bestselling Snuff, Rant, Haunted, Lullaby, and Fight Club, which was made into a film by director David Fincher, as well as Diary, Survivor, Invisible Monsters, and Choke, which was made into a film by director Clark Gregg. He is also the author of Fugitives and Refugees, a nonfiction profile of Portland, Oregon, and the nonfiction collection Stranger Than Fiction. His book of short stories, Make Something
Up, was a widely banned bestseller. His graphic novel Fight Club 2 hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. He's also the author of the graphic novel Fight Club 3 and the coloring books Bait and Legacy, as well as the writing guide Consider This. His most recent novel, Not Forever, But For Now, was a USA Today bestseller. He lives in the Pacific Northwest.