Book: The Gone World (2018)
Author: Tom Sweterlitsch

Summary (5*): Wow. A dark, time-traveling mystery, beautifully imagined, about a protagonist that can see the end of the world coming, and tries to prevent it. This one is hard to pigeonhole into a genre, but who cares? I thought it was spectacular, just a well-written, unique sci-fi/horror/thriller/mystery with interesting characters. Home run! Highly recommended.

Plot (5*): Shannon Moss is an NCIS agent, and the Navy is administering a program called "Deep Waters," which is a wormhole-based ability to jump forwards (but not backwards) in time to one of many *possible* futures, then to return to "terra firma," or the actual real time. Through this, the Navy has seen the effects of a cataclysmic event they call the Terminus, and the current government is focused on preventing this scenario from happening. When a person travels to the future, when they return, sometimes they bring someone with them; these future versions of cloned people are called "echoes," and they can be troublesome. Anyhow, Moss has to work backwards from a random future time to figure out what the Terminus is, how it came to be, and who or what was responsible for bringing it to Earth. I'm not doing the plot justice, but those are the basics. Surprisingly easy to follow, at least for the first 75% of the book, despite the complexity. Awesome.

Characters (4*): Moss is the protagonist; she is a believable, flawed character that is richly painted, with strengths and weaknesses both well-explored and relevant to the story. She's surrounded by *multiple versions* of an interesting and varied cast of characters, some developed *in multiple ways*. I thought this was one of the most original and interesting parts of the book, and for popular fiction the characters were very human and textured.

Re-readability (5*): Yes, definitely, and probably within a year or two. I'm really interested in another read, knowing how the story arc develops and concludes from the start. I think it'll hold together very well. I've never read anything else by this author, but the guy's writing is right in my wheelhouse.

Who It's For: The cross-genre nature of this book makes it difficult to pigeonhole, but that's its strength. Anyone that enjoys a good thriller/mystery, OR sci-fi that is mind bending but still somewhat believable, OR that just enjoys books that are well-constructed in terms of both plot and character, should pick this up. It's six hours well spent.

Post Script: Three other things about this book. First, I came to this from reading Recursion, by Blake Crouse, which I loved. If I had to pick between the two books though, I think I'd choose this one. It's hard to put a finger on specifically why; perhaps the characters in Gone World are a little more rich for me. But, both Gone World and Recursion are awesome, and both are going to result in me reading more by the authors. Second, when I was thinking about comps for this book, I could think of movies easier than other books for some reason. It's got doses of 12 Monkeys, Inception, Sicario, Event Horizon…bits and pieces of the thoughts and emotions that I got from those films. Man, what a ride! Third, this is a DARK book, and not one designed to give you a warm, fuzzy, optimistic, clear ending. I'm not that kind of person, but I do sometimes really enjoy reading or watching this kind of dark, depressing stuff and then emerging out the other side where it's sunny. In a way, it's the same kind of darkness that's in a lot of novels from the Icelandic and Nordic writers from 20 years ago, like Jo Nesbitt, Arnaldur Indrioason, and Steig Larsson (remember the Dragon Tattoo books?). If you can't stand the darkness or ambiguity, perhaps this book won't hit you the same.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. My yearly re-read of my favorite book of all time.

thanks for the rec....going to check this one out.

Love your detailed review by the way

Your reviews have been great. I read apple in china solely based off your review and loved it. Appreciate the time you put into these.

Re: Millennium series.

I read all 3 of the books back around 2010-2012. Dragon Tattoo I enjoyed a lot, I think primarily due to its uniqueness at the time, a really weird and foreign (to me) antihero, and a very distinctive atmosphere that, in hindsight, is shared among a lot of writers from countries where it's cold all the time, people are quiet and clannish, and the societies don't tolerate complainers very well. The story was super-cool and stood on its own very well, with a satisfying conclusion. All good -- it was a totally new experience for me as a reader.

I read the subsequent two books and the same freshness and uniqueness weren't there anymore for me. I don't remember any details from the last two books, either plot or character. They didn't stick with me at all. It wasn't that they were bad or lazy books, they just lacked the impact with me that Dragon Tattoo had.

My opinion -- skip them if you're not hungry for more of the same vibe and weirdness. The 16 hours or so of opportunity cost can be better spent elsewhere. If you've had enough of Lisbeth but liked the atmosphere, try some of the other Nordic/Icelandic mystery authors like Nesbitt or Indrioason.