It's here! Browse the 2024 Penguin Christmas gift guide
Fight Me

Fight Me

Summary

READ THE THRILLING, ACERBIC AND HILARIOUS NOVEL FROM THE AUTHOR OF SOON I WILL BE INVINCIBLE


'The Avengers meets The Breakfast Club… wry and engaging' James Swallow, Sunday Times bestselling author of Nomad


'A spiky, fierce, erudite riff on the wonderful world of silver age superheroes' Charles Stross, bestselling author of The Atrocity Archives

'Blending the lurid, anything-goes madness of Silver Age comic books with emotionally complicated characters and realistic consequences on a cosmic scale' SFX


----


Dr Rick Tower is a mild-mannered English professor easing into middle-age at a medium-sized New England college. A genial blur, he thinks. Even his vices are unremarkable.

But it wasn’t always like this. Not until they changed his name, altered his looks and told him: ‘pretend you were never different’.

Because, decades earlier after a very bad day at high school, he was committed to a secret government facility with three other kids, Cat, Jack and Stephanie, each special in their own way. Tested, tutored and trained, this extraordinary quartet were then told to save the world.

It was the best thing that ever happened to them. Until it became the worst.

Now, twenty years after the tragedy that forced him into academic non-entity, a mysterious disappearance means Tower must reunite with his former comrades. Each returns with their own agenda. And while great power might come with great responsibility, there’s little of that on display from any of them.

Combining compelling storytelling and fierce imagination with a rich cast of characters, Fight Me is a page-turning and distinctive thriller, a unique tale of good and evil, and a memorable portrait of man trying to do the right thing at any cost. Against impossible odds . . .

----


PRAISE FOR FIGHT ME

'Hugely enjoyable… kept me up till 3am' Conn Iggulden, Sunday Times bestselling author of Lion

Combining a coming-of-age story with costume thrills . . . it has sly, smart things to say’ Herald

'Fight Me embraces the fun of the genre, while treating its battle-weary characters with heart and empathy. A noir-tinged Big Chill for the superhero set' Bob Proehl, author of The Nobody People

‘A treasure that manages to be sad, funny, and hilariously fun at all once. A thrilling adventure but also a searing, intimate look at what it would really cost to have such incredible power, and yet still be human’ Peng Shepherd, bestselling author of The Cartographers

'There is a vibrancy to the writing, and a beating heart, reminiscent of my favourite coming-of-age novels' Nick Cutter

'A sucker-punch of sheer delight, and couldn't be happier to be on the receiving end' Adam Christopher

Reviews

  • A spiky, fierce, erudite riff on the wonderful world of silver age superheroes
    Charles Stross, bestselling author of The Atrocity Archives

About the author

Austin Grossman

Austin Grossman is a novelist and interactive storyteller. His novels include Soon I Will Be Invincible, YOU: a novel, and Crooked. Soon I Will Be Invincible was nominated for the 2007 John Sargent Sr. First Novel Prize. His writing has also appeared in Granta, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times. His game credits include System Shock, Deus Ex, and Dishonored, which received the 2012 BAFTA award for Best Game. He has an M.A. in Performance Studies from N.Y.U .and is A.B.D. in English Literature at the University of California, Berkeley. He currently teaches narrative design at N.Y.U., and works as a consultant in game and XR experience design.
Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more