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lmreboy's review against another edition
3.0
Definitely not your typical murder mystery. Lots of twists, intertwined story lines, jumping time frames. At one point it felt like it was getting a bit absurdist but then I thought, " hey, if this was on Fringe, I wouldn't think it was so strange." So there you have it. If you want a mystery that reminds you of Fringe or some other genre-bending read, you might like this.
dm_aus's review against another edition
3.0
Three and a half stars.
There are spoilers following.
On the front cover of my library copy of this book are the words 'You have never read anything like this before'. This is not entirely correct. There are many murder mystery type books around and more than a few sci-fi time travel books as well. Just not so many where these genres are mashed together. This is a very good mashing.
When it's all said and done this is a story of good verses evil with an interesting time-bending twist.
Nice one, Mr Renner.
There are spoilers following.
On the front cover of my library copy of this book are the words 'You have never read anything like this before'. This is not entirely correct. There are many murder mystery type books around and more than a few sci-fi time travel books as well. Just not so many where these genres are mashed together. This is a very good mashing.
When it's all said and done this is a story of good verses evil with an interesting time-bending twist.
Nice one, Mr Renner.
sjmyers's review against another edition
5.0
What a crazy ride!!! I wish I could give this book more than five stars. I have been waiting to read this book since last summer and my library finally ordered a copy (yes, I am cheap!!) I couldn't remember what the story was about but I remembered reading reviews about cray twists the story would take. During the first half of the book, I kept trying to guess what possible turns the author would take me through. I was so wrong!!! I loved that I couldn't figure out the ending! The second half of the book is totally mind bending. A couple times I had to stop and reread a section. I just couldn't believe what I was reading. I highly recommend this book!!!
tandealkent's review against another edition
5.0
Where do you begin? There is no use me even attempting to describe the plot as I would never do it justice. The structure of the chapters, with sentences stepping between is clever, but just one of the unique and intriguing devices in this book that will have you hooked. Time travel on speed and a story about love that isn't a love story.
roguehireling's review against another edition
3.0
I read this because it sounded interesting. I like mysteries and I like SciFi, so why not give it a try?
Well I read the entire thing, mainly because I wanted to find out who dunnit. But also because it was really well written. Such a smooth writer.
But the dunnit part was rather disturbing. I really didn't like the crime topic.
That being said I wasn't at all surprised by the switch in genre half way through as I felt the first half foreshadowed it quite well.
And the ending was incredibly unsatisfying. While we find out who did it, it gets all muddled and not explained at all. Which is ironic as the last quarter of the book is filled with describing EVERYthing. Really needed some editing, especially if the ending was supposed to be left so vague then all the previous explaining is very odd.
But I think what I found the most odd about the book was that it seemed a bit self indulgent. The hero seems a bit too spitting image of the actual author. But then they say to write what you know. I dont know, it just seemed a bit too personal.
Well I read the entire thing, mainly because I wanted to find out who dunnit. But also because it was really well written. Such a smooth writer.
But the dunnit part was rather disturbing. I really didn't like the crime topic.
That being said I wasn't at all surprised by the switch in genre half way through as I felt the first half foreshadowed it quite well.
And the ending was incredibly unsatisfying. While we find out who did it, it gets all muddled and not explained at all. Which is ironic as the last quarter of the book is filled with describing EVERYthing. Really needed some editing, especially if the ending was supposed to be left so vague then all the previous explaining is very odd.
But I think what I found the most odd about the book was that it seemed a bit self indulgent. The hero seems a bit too spitting image of the actual author. But then they say to write what you know. I dont know, it just seemed a bit too personal.
jonfaith's review against another edition
1.0
If you liked Ender's Game this may be a novel for you. I cite Orson Scott Card and his self-delusions for a certain reason. The Man From Primrose Lane inspired such a foaming rage on my part, I could only think of Ender playing video games while REALLY saving the world. My bullshit immunity was breached, there was no vertigo nor fever. What a fucking hack, I screamed, well, muttered, as my wife was watching tv in the next room.
I wanted to like the book. I won't spoil such. Sweet stars above, afford me peace and allow me to march away from the memory of this book.
I wanted to like the book. I won't spoil such. Sweet stars above, afford me peace and allow me to march away from the memory of this book.
erinlgreads's review against another edition
4.0
Mind. Blown.
What started off as a suspense thriller about a true crime author who is talked into reporting on the case of an elderly recluse who is the victim of a brutal murder turns into a science fiction odyssey about the effects of time travel.
But that's not what the story is really about.
It's the story of obsession and the impact it can have on your life it you don't know how to truly "let something go". This is the third book that I've read by James Renner and he is quickly becoming my favorite author of the genre.
What started off as a suspense thriller about a true crime author who is talked into reporting on the case of an elderly recluse who is the victim of a brutal murder turns into a science fiction odyssey about the effects of time travel.
But that's not what the story is really about.
It's the story of obsession and the impact it can have on your life it you don't know how to truly "let something go". This is the third book that I've read by James Renner and he is quickly becoming my favorite author of the genre.
vern_pk's review against another edition
4.0
I'm giving this book three stars, only because there is no "half star" option on the rating function. Really, my rating is 3.5 stars.
I don't want to spoil it, but I will say that the book's greatest strength is its defiance of genre. It blends sci-fi, romance, drama, mystery, crime, supernatural, and probably a bunch of others, and it does it in such a way that you don't even see it coming. I love stories that defy genre stereotypes, particularly ones that have shifting narratives/perspectives. The author here does a tremendous job with that, and that is probably the aspect of the book I liked the most.
That being said, the characters are absolutely HORRID: just bizarre, self-involved, unsympathetic (and not even in an interesting, conflicted way), unbelievable people. It's such a shame that such an amazing, complex story happened to such inane, boring characters.
The author was a little heavy-handed with the foreshadowing as well; while the first 100 pages left me totally enthralled and wondering just what the hell was going on, once I wrapped my mind around the idea, I figured out pretty quickly the twist, the culprit, the Man's identity, etc. It got to the point where I had 150 pages left in the book and was wondering when the hell we were going to just get ON with it already.
The ending was resolved a little too quickly and sloppily, as well, although I absolutely loved the "Beeble" angle to the story.
In sum, a fascinating reading experience for those with an open mind, but it will be hard to care about the people involved, and the ending might seem a little unsatisfactory.
I don't want to spoil it, but I will say that the book's greatest strength is its defiance of genre. It blends sci-fi, romance, drama, mystery, crime, supernatural, and probably a bunch of others, and it does it in such a way that you don't even see it coming. I love stories that defy genre stereotypes, particularly ones that have shifting narratives/perspectives. The author here does a tremendous job with that, and that is probably the aspect of the book I liked the most.
That being said, the characters are absolutely HORRID: just bizarre, self-involved, unsympathetic (and not even in an interesting, conflicted way), unbelievable people. It's such a shame that such an amazing, complex story happened to such inane, boring characters.
The author was a little heavy-handed with the foreshadowing as well; while the first 100 pages left me totally enthralled and wondering just what the hell was going on, once I wrapped my mind around the idea, I figured out pretty quickly the twist, the culprit, the Man's identity, etc. It got to the point where I had 150 pages left in the book and was wondering when the hell we were going to just get ON with it already.
The ending was resolved a little too quickly and sloppily, as well, although I absolutely loved the "Beeble" angle to the story.
In sum, a fascinating reading experience for those with an open mind, but it will be hard to care about the people involved, and the ending might seem a little unsatisfactory.
tfitoby's review against another edition
4.0
As time travelly complexy as you're likely to find in what is ostensibly a popular thriller crime novel, tells a tale similar to Predestination - the recent movie adaptation of the Heinlein short story All You Zombies.
Renner grips you with an incredibly fascinating prologue and sustains the page turning readability through 450+ pages thanks to some top quality descriptive prose and an approach to revealing information that would put Quentin Tarantino to shame. For a popular thriller unit shifter that seemingly failed to shift units it's as good as I would ever expect. I wanted more noir, I wanted more science fiction but instead I got a vaguely metafictional, self referential attempt at literary true crime with a convoluted time travel plot that amazingly enough works. It really works.
The opening half (at least) is phenomenal and that I feel let down by it is as much a product of having such a strong opening and the absurdity of time travel as a concept as it is any inherent weakness in the story. I could easily have read another 500 pages of this story though.
Renner grips you with an incredibly fascinating prologue and sustains the page turning readability through 450+ pages thanks to some top quality descriptive prose and an approach to revealing information that would put Quentin Tarantino to shame. For a popular thriller unit shifter that seemingly failed to shift units it's as good as I would ever expect. I wanted more noir, I wanted more science fiction but instead I got a vaguely metafictional, self referential attempt at literary true crime with a convoluted time travel plot that amazingly enough works. It really works.
The opening half (at least) is phenomenal and that I feel let down by it is as much a product of having such a strong opening and the absurdity of time travel as a concept as it is any inherent weakness in the story. I could easily have read another 500 pages of this story though.
bmartino's review against another edition
4.0
I read this book after seeing a blurb about it on io9.com. While I wouldn’t have even picked it up if I hadn’t known that there were some sci-fi/futuristic elements to it, I found myself wishing while reading it that I knew nothing about it. Knowing in advance that definitely affected the way I read it. I picked up on clues I wouldn’t otherwise have noticed; some twists that should have surprised me seemed somewhat anticlimactic.
That said, I found the plot to be very good. I enjoyed the way the characters intersected and interacted. I liked the exploration of the consequences of obsessing over one idea, one puzzle, one person for far too long. Many plot points still surprised me even after I thought I had figured everything out. The ending, which is where a book like this can really fall apart, actually held together and worked. I even skipped playing Skyrim for a full weekend to keep reading. That’s really saying something about how well it held my interest!
The only weakness that bothered me was that it could have done with some more judicious editing. There were places I felt it to be overwritten, although I think the style may be leftover from the author’s previous “true crime” books. A couple instances where the point of view got really confusing; a scene told from one character’s viewpoint all of a sudden shifted to going inside another character’s head for just a couple sentences. And the transition from a third-person to first-person narrator in Part 3 was really jarring and distracting.
But these are minor annoyances and won’t keep me from checking out Renner’s future work. It can only get better, and it’s starting off pretty good already.
Spoiler
time travel was involvedThat said, I found the plot to be very good. I enjoyed the way the characters intersected and interacted. I liked the exploration of the consequences of obsessing over one idea, one puzzle, one person for far too long. Many plot points still surprised me even after I thought I had figured everything out. The ending, which is where a book like this can really fall apart, actually held together and worked. I even skipped playing Skyrim for a full weekend to keep reading. That’s really saying something about how well it held my interest!
The only weakness that bothered me was that it could have done with some more judicious editing. There were places I felt it to be overwritten, although I think the style may be leftover from the author’s previous “true crime” books. A couple instances where the point of view got really confusing; a scene told from one character’s viewpoint all of a sudden shifted to going inside another character’s head for just a couple sentences. And the transition from a third-person to first-person narrator in Part 3 was really jarring and distracting.
But these are minor annoyances and won’t keep me from checking out Renner’s future work. It can only get better, and it’s starting off pretty good already.