The Last TechShack

by Jason Kilhoffer

Jason Forrester, a middle-aged TechShack owner and lifelong tinkerer, is days away from closing his store for good. As he inventories old gadgets and fends off corporate shutdown notices, he begins detecting strange radio signals through his HAM setup—messages encoded in Morse, 80s TV themes, and modem screeches. He teams up with Jennifer, a conspiracy podcast host, and Chad, a sarcastic teenage tech whiz, to decode the signal.

The signal leads to revelations hidden in Jason's garage, once his father's domain, suggesting something alien or extradimensional is trying to make contact—possibly through old tech. As they investigate, they're tailed by mysterious government agents and watched by strangers buying up vintage components.

The trio eventually activates a portal using a makeshift machine assembled from Jason’s father’s prototype and nostalgic relics. They drive Jason’s MR2 through the rift and enter a surreal alternate world made of obsolete tech—a digital afterlife of forgotten electronics. There, Jason learns the world is failing, and only someone who understands analog tech and forgotten codes can fix it.

399 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 29, 2025

Reviews

[Tony Calder · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has a good premise and it starts well but, ultimately, it was disappointing. The first few chapters of the book reminded me of classic Stephen King - a slow build with strange happenings in small town America, and having worked in retail for many years, I could empathise with the situation of the decline of non big box retail stores.

However, the slow build went on for too long, and I was starting to lose interest. It was when things started to happen that the story got very annoying. Almost as though it was written in serial form, the start of each new chapter jumped back in time to retell part of the story from the previous chapter. This was annoying enough, but to make it worse, the retelling didn't match the previous narrative. About halfway through the book, the landlord collects the keys to the store and the final register read is done, but for many chapters after that, the store is still open and sales are being made. When the characters finally get around to creating the portal they go through it on foot, but in subsequent chapters, when they retell the journey through the portal, they go through in a car. A continuity editor would have greatly lessened the irritation factor and improved the story a lot.

So, a good idea, but the author needs to be a lot tighter with continuity.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Last TechShack is the kind of sci-fi novel that feels like a love letter to the weird little stores, old gadgets, and offbeat people the world keeps trying to leave behind. What hooked me was how naturally it moves from a struggling electronics shop on the verge of closing into a full-blown mystery involving coded signals, suspicious buyers, hidden inventions, and a portal built from relics most people would have tossed in the trash years ago. Jason is exactly the kind of hero this story needs—funny, stubborn, and just out of step enough with the modern world to notice what everyone else misses. Add in a conspiracy-podcast host, a sarcastic teen sidekick, and an alternate realm made of obsolete tech, and you get a book that’s clever, funny, and full of surprises. If you’ve ever loved an old radio, a dead mall, a weird roadside store, or a sci-fi story that knows how to have fun with its premise, this one is a blast.

[Abigail L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Last TechShack is a fun, inventive science-fiction novel. Set inside a dying electronics store filled with old radios, cables, dusty gadgets, and decades of memories, the book follows Jason as a strange signal pulls him into a mystery involving secret messages, government interest, and a hidden machine tied to his father’s past. The story has plenty of personality, but what really makes it work is the way it treats old technology not as a joke, but as the key to something extraordinary. There’s humor, momentum, and a real sense of discovery as the plot opens up into something much stranger and much bigger than a store closing. Readers who enjoy retro sci-fi, portal adventures, and stories built around unlikely heroes will find a lot to like here.

[Chad Cloman · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF - Glacial pace, boring

I really wanted to find out where this story went, but it was just taking so very long to get there. The author is good at writing descriptive text that sets a mood. But then he kept doing on doing it, until things got boring. Then he continued some more. I started skimming, hoping something would happen. Finally I gave up. Did not finish.

I don’t normally give 1-star reviews for novels, even when I don’t finish the book. Bad books often get two stars. But this one is definitely 1-star quality.

Not recommended. I give it 1/5 stars.