The Factory
Sale price
$858
Chapter Book · Ages 9–12 · 2025 · Est. 7 hour read

The Factory

By Catherine Egan

A secretive facility hides dark truths. Can Asher uncover them before it's too late?

3.8/5 Goodreads · 225 ratings
320 pages· 63,350 words· Est. 7 hour read
$8.99Save 5%

In stock. Also at Amazon or Bookshop.

Bookroo's summary

Thirteen-year-old Asher Doyle, burdened by school bullies and family troubles, seizes a chance to join a mysterious research facility promising wealth. But the Factory's secrets run deep, and the other kids seem drained of life. Asher wasn't chosen by chance, and the facility's true purpose is far from renewable energy. With danger escalating, Asher must ally with fellow participants to unravel the Factory's dark experiment and his own unexpected link to it. Can they expose the truth before someone gets hurt?

From the publisher

Step inside the Factory in this suspenseful exploration of power, exploitation, and the nature of time that Kirkus calls a “gripping, fast-paced story with a cliffhanger ending,” and a “complex beginning to what will surely be a sought-after series”!Thirteen-year-old Asher Doyle is no stranger to misfortune. Bullied at school and struggling with problems at home, he dreams of the day he can leave it all behind him. That’s when he receives an unexpected opportunity: an invitation to join the Factory – a top-secret research facility that’s supposedly developing renewable energy – and Asher will be paid handsomely for his participation. It seems like the answer to all his problems.But not everything is as it seems at the Factory. The other kids in the program are tired and sullen, almost as if they’ve had the life sucked out of them, and the staff members are clearly hiding something. What’s more, Asher discovers he wasn’t chosen at random; someone in the program desperately wants him to participate. Asher can’t help but feel that whatever the Factory is doing, it’s not what he or any of the other kids signed up for.To Asher’s horror, it turns out that the Factory isn’t developing renewable energy at all. So what is the Factory up to, and more important, why? As conditions in the Factory worsen, Asher must team up with the other kids to uncover the sinister truth behind the experiment – and his personal connection to it – before someone gets seriously hurt.

At a glance
Format
Paperback
Pages
320
Words
63,350
Reading age
9–12
Audience
Middle Grade
Lexile
810L
Themes & topics
Books about familyBooks about surveillanceBooks about isolationBooks about identityBooks about survival
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The fine print

Book details

Reading levels
ATOS
5.4
F&P level
~S
AR points
10
AR interest level
MG
AR quiz
553954
Publication
Published
January 7, 2025
Edition
Language
English
Type
Chapter Book
Identifiers
ISBN
9781339034218

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