A great read! Very creative and interesting. ( )

Really loved this one. Terrific sci-fi that weaves in just about every conspiracy theory ever. ( )

Don't drink the water
wrap the windows in tin foil
forget you read this. ( )

What starts out as an intriguing mystery novel eventually turns into a devilishly wild ride of conspiracy theory SF, and this simple statement does nothing to explain just how CRAZY it'll get. :)

I'm a very big fan of cross-genre fiction and this one really fits the bill in a big, big way. The mystery is clever and engaging and fascinatingly strange, but what really struck my fancy was just how good the characters are. So much has happened in their lives and just getting to the point of the next reveal kept me glued to the page. These aren't even big reveals, just character reveals, and yet because Jack kept digging, this whole book took on a fantastic dimension that just got deeper and deeper as we find out more about Tony and Cole and the way the human mind can be a real nutter.

The whole book is a gradient. It starts you out with the small stuff and as you get acclimated, it gets steeper and steeper into nutter land. I'm just glad I already boil all my water. Of course, that may be because I drink little more than coffee and tea, but you know how it is. I avoid my Flouride in my water. :)

From there, however, I can't and won't spoil you, but if you're a conspiracy theory nut, yourself, do yourself a favor and read this little gem of a novel. Take a bag of your favorite theories, shake them around, take three handfuls of them, and now toss them in the air. Make connections. Build a story around them where they all fit together. Now read this book. How closely do they match?

Not close enough? Fine. Add another handful of theories and build another story. Closer? YES! lol

I can't believe the author got away with everything he did. The mystery connections were set up with some real brilliance. :) And this, my friends, became one hell of a great SF. :)

With one caveat: I debated knocking off a star for the slightly unsatisfying ending, but the whole ride of the rest of the novel was so strong and fascinating that I simply couldn't do that. I had a really great time. For those who've already read it, I liked the Prologue fine. It was the big action scene at the end and the immediate results of it, but not related to he-who-must-not-be-named. Maybe I just wanted something different to happen.

But everything else? I went fanboy all over it. :)

Thanks goes to the author for a physical copy of this book! It was a real blast! ( )

3.5 I'm having such a hard time figuring out my thoughts on this book. I think James Renner is a very intelligent writer with a creative imagination. I loved his previous work and I enjoyed the majority of this one as well, but somewhere during the last half of the book I almost stopped reading due to the abrupt change in the pace and rhythm of the story. Bogged down with so many new ideas being introduced and needing explanation the characters became an afterthought. ( )