CLICK HERE FOR AN AUDIOBOOK COPY 

BOOK SYNOPSIS

Two top women gladiators fight for their freedom within a depraved private prison system not so far-removed from America's own...

"She felt their eyes, all those executioners..."

Loretta Thurwar and Hamara "Hurricane Staxxx" Stacker are the stars of Chain-Gang All-Stars, the cornerstone of CAPE, or Criminal Action Penal Entertainment, a highly-popular, highly-controversial, profit-raising program in America's increasingly dominant private prison industry. It's the return of the gladiators and prisoners are competing for the ultimate prize: their freedom.

In CAPE, prisoners travel as Links in Chain-Gangs, competing in death-matches for packed arenas with righteous protestors at the gates. Thurwar and Staxxx, both teammates and lovers, are the fan favorites. And if all goes well, Thurwar will be free in just a few matches, a fact she carries as heavily as her lethal hammer. As she prepares to leave her fellow Links, she considers how she might help preserve their humanity, in defiance of these so-called games, but CAPE's corporate owners will stop at nothing to protect their status quo and the obstacles they lay in Thurwar's path have devastating consequences.

Moving from the Links in the field to the protestors to the CAPE employees and beyond, Chain-Gang All-Stars is a kaleidoscopic, excoriating look at the American prison system's unholy alliance of systemic racism, unchecked capitalism, and mass incarceration, and a clear-eyed reckoning with what freedom in this country really means from a "new and necessary American voice" (Tommy Orange, The New York Times Book Review).

RECOMMENDED FOR: Grown-Ups

OUR BOOKS ARE LISTED BY AGE GROUP to indicate that the content is engaging and appropriate for those selected ages. PLEASE NOTE: They may not be the appropriate reading level for every individual at those ages or may extend beyond the brackets.

ADDITIONAL DETAILS:

Publisher: Hardcover: Pantheon Books / Paperback: Vintage

Publish Date: Hardcover: May 02, 2023 / Paperback: January 23, 2024

Pages: 384 / 432

Dimensions: 6.3 X 9.0 X 1.5 inches | 1.55 pounds / 7.9 X 5.1 X 0.9 inches | 0.7 pounds

Language: English

Type: Hardcover or Paperback

Condition: NEW