Scarlett Thomas’s PopCo is a dazzling, intellectually stimulating, and wildly imaginative contemporary novel that blends pop culture, code-breaking, and corporate satire. The story follows Alice Butler, a brilliant thirty-year-old cryptanalyst working for PopCo, a massive, highly secretive multinational toy conglomerate dedicated to engineering the next big global childhood craze. Living on a remote, windswept island in Cornwall while attending a corporate retreat, Alice stumbles upon a cryptic, covert message hidden within one of the company's upcoming product launches—triggering an obsessive quest to uncover the sinister corporate agenda lurking beneath the shiny surface of mass consumerism. Brimming with fascinating puzzles, math theory, and biting social commentary, this clever and eccentric novel is an arresting exploration of capitalism, freedom, and the hidden codes that govern our modern lives.