Junkers (Revised Edition): Junkers, Book 1

by Benjamin Wallace, Phil Thron (Narrator)

Robots hardly go on murderous rampages anymore, unfortunately.

That’s bad news for Jake Ashley. He inherited his father’s robot reclamation business and the debt that went with it. He and his team of specialists are geared up and trained to take on any rogue machine. But with everything running so smoothly, the phone hasn’t really been ringing.

That all changes when the team is called to stop a murderous scarecrow. Before they know it, everything from farm equipment to coffee drones is trying to kill them and everybody else in the city. It’s up to Jake and his team must find out what’s behind the malfunctions before all is lost. After all, breaking things is their business.

Junkers is a hilarious look at the inevitable robot uprising that listeners are calling “Part Ghostbusters. Part I, Robot.”

Audible Audio

Published September 9, 2025

About the author

Benjamin Wallace has written for GQ, Details, Food & Wine, Salon, and The Washington Post. He grew up in Washington, DC, and graduated from Georgetown University. From 1990 to 1992, he lived in the Czech Republic and Hungary, teaching English, proofreading diplomatic documents at the Czechoslovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and writing for such newspapers as The Prague Post, The Budapest Post, and The European. From 1993 to 1995, he worked as a reporter for trade publications in Manhattan, including a magazine about magazines and a mergers-and-acquisitions newsletter. From 1996 to 2005, he worked at Philadelphia magazine, most recently as executive editor. In 2002, the Columbia Journalism Review named him one of “ten young writers on the rise.” The Billionaire’s Vinegar is his first book. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Reviews

[Marty Solotki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Benjamin Wallace is a very, very funny writer of wacky futures full of colourful characters and weirdo villains. This time it’s a future dominated by AI (which could never happen…right? Right? Bueller?), where anti-robot activists warn of pending dooming when the machines rise up. Our main character, Jake Ashley, runs a ragtag robot reclamation company that deals with renegade robots…but business is non-existent. Until it’s not.

Phil Thron has narrated many of the Wallace books I listen to and quite honestly, his voice is just so amazing. This one has some funny outtakes, too. The story is fast-paced and silly but with a smart plot that ends with a wild climax and a sweet denouement. Fun stuff.