Simon Denman

A couple inexplicable suicides, a strange computer file, a mysterious femme fatale, and the Russian Mafia all go into making this a unique work of science fiction set in contemporary England. What I especially appreciated was the the integration of important and fundamental scientific understandings in various subjects, from computer science to quantum physics, into the story. It kept things quite interesting. I found the characters believable, the pacing good, and the plot intriguing. Admittedly, the ending is a bit mystically woo-woo, but all in all, the story is solid. I can recommend it to science fiction readers looking for something different.… (mais)

When Peter’s musical genius brother commits suicide he volunteers to look through his things so that his wife Isabelle wouldn’t have to. Why do I need to mention her name so early in this summary? I’ll get to that. Peter discovers a program that his late brother was working on that makes him feel like he’s on weed but multiplied times a thousand.
Not too far from Peter, college student Doug gets a mysterious email from his good friend moments before he commits suicide. Within the message he received a download that expired when his friend deleted it before it was recovered by Doug. Soon after he meets a mysterious girl who slept with his roommate but not much later does she sleep with him. Gee I wonder why…
Turns out Peter’s dead brother had been corresponding with Doug’s dead friend and that’s where they finally get together to get to the bottom of their deaths.
Honestly the backdrop of the story was so ridiculous I almost quit multiple times. First time was when Peter tried to get a priest to admit god wasn’t real, second was when Doug became a complete idiot and kept going after his new lady friend even when it was obvious she wasn’t really interested, then Peter was a complete a**hole with his family when he got back home and still dreamed of banging his dead brother’s wife because he’d been “secretly in love with her” from before she married someone else, and the reasons came back and back again.
The saving grace for the story was the sciency information that was explained in a decent way and it could have had more of an impact had the characters been more interesting and the ending not so craptastical.… (mais)

This is a pretty worn out story in my estimation. Young exciting people make a discover that is bigger than life and find themselves being hunted like animals by people bigger and stronger than they for the biggest motivation of all...money. Along the way, 2 characters fall in love, but not really, but then yes really...etc. Need I go on? Do you want to know the end of the story? How much of your life are you willing to pay to hear the end? a few hours?
No?
Me either.
Written by someone who wanted to flip a quick story for a modest profit. Cant blame them for that. But then again, they cant blame me for moving on.… (mais)

This stylish modern thriller interweaves quantum physics, theology, psychology, and computer science without losing either pace or the reader.

When his brother commits suicide, Peter volunteers to sort through his study; why does a musician have so many notes on religion and abstruse physics, and what did his last message that he knew everything mean? Across the country Doug’s best friend, and thesis partner, sends him a link to a file he must see but commits suicide almost immediately afterward; why did he erase all his work before he jumped? As these two men struggle to understand the last days of their loved ones, they are drawn into a race that could end in either humanity’s evolution or enslavement.

Denman includes plenty of details on the various fields that he draws upon while skilfully using point-of-view characters who are not specialists in the area, giving a sense that the plot has a solid base without either burying the lay reader under dry technical and philosophical discourse or skimping the interested amateur.

The characterisation varies between the two threads. Peter’s struggle with the death of his brother and the consequent impact on his marriage reads like a character-driven story, centred around a well-realised older man who is already burdened with the compromises and injuries of life. Conversely, Doug’s life, even before he is immersed in the plot, is a whirl of casual sex and rushing in where angels fear to tread, giving the feel of a more plot-centred narrative. Both threads are internally consistent, but they do not always sit perfectly next to each other, as if George Smiley and James Bond were investigating the same conspiracy.

A number of paragraphs are much longer than average for a thriller, some continuing for several average screens. However, these are balanced by much shorter paragraphs so would only be an issue for readers who dislike putting a book down, even briefly, in the middle of a paragraph.

Overall, as an interested amateur in both physics and metaphysics, I found the balance of theory and action most enjoyable. I recommend it to readers who like thrillers with a plausible explanation for a world-changing plot.

I received a free copy of this book.… (mais)