– The first rule of The Hate Train: Never turn on another user.
– The second rule of The Hate Train: Whatever happens in the Hate Train stays in the Hate Train.
– The third rule of The Hate Train: No password. No play.
In this nightmarish tale of a distorted time in American history where destroying the foundation of civilization has become a common practice among criminals, the eighteen-year-old narrator, Josh Lamb, an elusive yet infamous vandal who has a special knack for strategically waging “chaos” in order to divide humanity, believes that his actions will create a collective domino effect that will plunge the entire world into extinction once he has completed his master plan in pitting humans against one another.
One night, while defacing a statue whose purpose is to inspire unity, Josh stumbles across a charismatic group of misfits who call themselves the mawb. The mawb introduces Josh to a virtual reality game known as The Hate Train. The realism of the game is uncanny. Even Josh himself has trouble distinguishing what is real and what is not.
After a while, Josh finds friendship in the mawb, as well as an outlet in the mysterious game. Any notion of continuing his reckless ways is eventually put on indefinite hold. But did the crimes Josh commit leave a country beyond repair? If so, what costs will Josh pay in order to absolve himself from his destructive behavior? As the identities of the mawb eventually come to light, the line between Josh’s reality and fantasy becomes a blurry one.
