Erwin Lemuel OlivaDec 27, 2025

In print
Ebook
Audiobook
Library
We may earn a commission. Learn more.
Chain-Gang All-Stars A Novel
The explosive, hotly-anticipated debut novel from the New York Times-bestselling author of Friday Black, about two top women gladiators fighting for their freedom within a depraved private prison system not so far-removed from America's own. 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).
🪢Aug 1, 2025
mara hendersonJul 17, 2025
ShyMar 20, 2025
karinaMar 6, 2025
Billie FogartyDec 4, 2024
AmeliaAug 10, 2024
p.Jul 3, 2024
Abbie DugganJul 1, 2024
Christa BellJun 18, 2024
JordanMay 28, 2024
Truman M HalladayApr 26, 2024
JacqueApr 8, 2024
Shohini GuptaFeb 28, 2024
BoothbyFeb 18, 2024
amanda sJan 22, 2024
Jenna WhitlowJan 3, 2024
garnetJan 2, 2024
Ali AngcoDec 17, 2023
halfmoonSep 24, 2023
Brandon KoenigSep 15, 2023
Apiecalypse JenSep 14, 2023
Hayley SayreAug 29, 2023
André NóbregaMar 1, 2023
LindsayJun 1, 2023
LindsayJun 1, 2023
LindsayJun 1, 2023
LindsayJun 1, 2023
LindsayJun 1, 2023
LindsayJun 1, 2023
LindsayJun 1, 2023
Sabrina D. Feb 5, 2024
Page 36
kylie harrisonApr 17, 2024
Billie FogartyDec 4, 2024
Billie FogartyDec 4, 2024
Billie FogartyDec 4, 2024
karinaMar 6, 2025