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Jeffrey A. Ballard

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The Solid-State Shuffle (Sunken City Capers Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Jeffrey A. Ballard (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.1 839 ratings

Book 1 of 5: Sunken City Capers

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Almost a hundred years ago, a major terrestrial event reshaped the earth’s coastlines. Goodbye entire cities. Goodbye entire states. Goodbye entire countries. And when the authorities outlawed salvaging from these underwater cities, why say hello to a new breed of criminal: underwater reclamation specialists. Even a hundred years later, there’s still a whole lot of loot for the reclaiming.

But it’s not theft if you put it back, right?

After cracking an underwater vault in their first major heist in the Seattle Isles, Isa and her crew think they’re on easy street again—that is, if they can figure out what it is exactly they stole. A question, they soon learn, where their very lives hang in the balance.

Thrust into a high-stakes game of subterfuge and deception by the local mob boss, Isa and her crew must scramble to unravel the mystery of what it is they stole while unseen forces move against them.

Harried. Threatened at every turn. Isa and her crew must stay one step ahead to stay alive.

Sunken City Capers is a fun summer read and a post-apocalyptic series with no zombies, just criminals and mischievous ne’er-do-wells. Fans of heist books/movies with a strong female lead will likely enjoy this series.
Sunken City Capers Books:

The Solid-State Shuffle, Book 1
The Elgin Deceptions, Book 2
Leverage, Book 3
The Brummie Con, Book 4
The Cleaners' War, Book 5

The Sunken City Capers series is complete at 5 books.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01L2JSEQ4
Publisher ‏ : ‎ New Rochester Publishing (October 4, 2016)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 4, 2016
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 4527 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 273 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #8,402 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #6 in Crime & Mystery Science Fiction
- #7 in Heist Crime
- #98 in Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
4.1 839 ratings

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About the author

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Jeffrey A. Ballard

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Jeffrey A. Ballard writes and lives in the Texas Hill Country just outside of Austin. From a small child he has always been fascinated with the ocean, leading him to earn a B.S. in Ocean Engineering from FAU and a M.S. in Acoustics from Penn State.

His overactive imagination followed him into academia, where he is currently a researcher at the University of Texas. Eventually, he circled back to a boyhood ambition of writing down all his dreams/daydreams/fantasies. He writes daily now and has found a wonderful second life for his college textbooks.

Learn more and connect with Jeffrey at www.jaballard.com.

You can sign up for his newsletter at www.jaballard.com and become the first to learn when the next Sunken City Capers book becomes available, as well as receive a free Sunken City Capers short story exclusive to newsletter recipients and other occasional goodies.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5

839 global ratings

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Charles A. Ray

Whoever thought the apocalypse could be so funny?

Reviewed in the United States on September 9, 2017

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A global seismic event has reshaped earth’s coastlines; whole cities and even some countries are underwater. When authorities ban salvage of the sunken cities, a new profession arises, underwater reclamation specialists—scavengers.
When Isa Schmidt and her crew, on their first major job in the Seattle area, find an item in a sunken bank vault, they know they have something valuable and important, they just don’t know what it is. Moreover, the item belongs to Seattle’s crime boss, and he wants it back, along with the head of whoever took it. Isa must figure a way to return the stolen item without being identified as the thief, a quest complicated by the fact that there are people who want to depose the crime boss, and use her as the patsy in the process.
The Solid-State Shuffle by Jeffrey A. Ballard is a hilarious piece of post-apocalyptic fiction that will have you in stitches as you follow Isa and her team in their sometimes bumbling efforts to return a stolen article, unmask the true villains, and stay alive. There are bits of violence, and the language is salty, but mostly, it’s just a pleasant, and rib-tickling read.

8 people found this helpful

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LindaKimura

Post apocalyptic crime caper in a new Seattle

Reviewed in the United States on September 1, 2023

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“The Solid-State Shuffle” (Sunken City Capers #1) by Jeffrey A Ballard ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre: Post Apocalyptic. Location: The Seattle Islands (what used to be Seattle, Washington, USA) Time: 100 years after a megaquake, tsunamis, and new volcanic range caused the earth’s coastline to collapse.

THE SERIES: Salvaging now-underwater cities is outlawed, but that just created criminal Underwater Reclamation Specialists. Like Isa (26) and her partners Puo and Winn. They just moved to Queen Anne Island. Isa and Puo are Legacy (born criminals with no Citizen Chips). Winn, a former surgeon, is new to the trade. There’s a lot of treasure in Puget Sound.

THIS BOOK: Isa, Puo, and Winn get phony Citizens Chips to make them more legit. Payment is due to the Citizen Maker, so they need money-fast. Slipping through the watery tunnels of the former Seattle Underground, they steal a hard drive from the underwater Pacific View Bank. When mob boss James Colvin asks them to find his missing hard drive, they’re stuck between a rock and a hard place. Were they set up? By whom? Threatened at every turn, they must stay one step ahead to stay alive.

Author Ballard creates a new world in a Seattle split into islands by the rising coastline. There’s The Center Island from about 13th into the Central Area, and Queen Anne Island; and Mercer Island is still there. I lived in “The Center Island” for a long time, and I’m in love with this watery Seattle.

Ballard creates a snarky, hard-driving female lead-he really understands how to write a female character! He adds a super-talented partner who provides a little levity amidst all the action. His descriptions of houses, neighborhoods, etc are interesting and relevant. It was kind of hard for me to keep track of who was setting up who and why-but It’s still 4 stars from me!🌵📚💁🏼‍♀️ Thank you to Crave Books, New Rochester Publishing, and Jeffrey A Ballard for this ecopy.

One person found this helpful

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P Taylor

Engaging plot

Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2021

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Quite a bit of action, good detail, and interesting characters. My major disappointment in this story is the grammatical errors. Incorrect grammar in character's dialogues is acceptable, and can enhance character development, erroneous phrasing in narratives drives me crazy. All this book needed was good editing.

2 people found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

Very well done

Reviewed in the United States on December 14, 2022

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I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I think the characters are great. Good story line, fast paced, lots of action good dialogue.

One person found this helpful

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Dawn Vogel

Action-packed heist

Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2023

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Solid-State Shuffle by Jeffrey A. Ballard is a action-packed, high-stakes heist novel set in a post-ocean rise Seattle. With a fun cast of main characters and hints at an intriguing backstory, the prose will carry you along through the book.

Isa and her team, consisting of her brother-from-another-mother Puo and her lover Winn, are high-tech thieves, hired to steal a hard drive. But things go awry when they realize the allegedly secure underwater vault has already been breached. And the problems only snowball from there.

It’s always interesting to me to see Seattle through the eyes of an author who lives halfway across the country. I felt like there were a lot of missed opportunities to namedrop landmarks that a local author would have included. (The Space Needle is on the cover, but it doesn’t come up in the story at all.) I also thought there was some overwrought description here and there. But the characters and plot were solid, despite these other issues.

If you like heists and post-apocalyptic settings that don’t involve zombies or other monsters, you might enjoy Solid-State Shuffle. And if you do, it’s the first book in a complete series of five (plus a novelette), so there’s plenty more after this book!

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

EJ Ford

Slightly Twisted Future

Reviewed in Canada on January 9, 2022

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Rough around the edges characters that are likeable, too. Lots of action and unexpected twists in a strangely slightly twisted future. I enjoyed it a lot and will look for more.

Simon R.

Seemless … no need for a manual.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 18, 2023

Verified Purchase

A good read… it took me back years to my pre-internet computing days. We had an inkling of the possibilities of the World Wide Web and we were happy talking about URLs and fat-pipes but William Gibson took me seamlessly and naturalistically into a world of jacking-in and cyberspace in a way that didn’t leave me hunting for a manual. The Solid-State Shuffle was like that. I’ve no idea what a Cleaner is… but I KNOW what a Cleaner does, I’ve no idea how, but I KNOW the importance of a clear fingernail when drinking coffee. Seamlessly and naturalistically I’ve been dropped into another world without the need for a manual.

P. Matthews

Fast paced

Reviewed in Australia on January 29, 2021

Verified Purchase

Fast paced read that doesn't let up. Sassy and confident heroine and great characters. Interesting plot wth edge of the seat twists. Recommended.

KMF

Dystopian thriller

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 30, 2022

Verified Purchase

A good fast paced thriller set in an unspecified future. I liked that the tech they used was only a generation or two away from how. It made it more plausible. The clothes descriptions seemed a bit incongruous to the main character, but only a little quibble.