Paperback, 368 pages
Published July 10, 2017 by Broadway Books.
One night after an evening out, Jason Dessen, forty-year-old physics professor living with his wife and son in Chicago, is kidnapped at gunpoint by a masked man, driven to an abandoned industrial site and injected with a powerful drug. As he wakes, a man Jason's never met smiles down at him and says, "Welcome back, my friend." But this life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife; his son was never born; and he's not an ordinary college professor, but a celebrated genius who has achieved something impossible. Is it this world or the other that's the dream? How can he possibly make it back to the family he loves? The answers lie in a journey more wondrous and horrifying than anything he could have imagined--one that will force him to confront the darkest parts of himself as he battles a terrifying, seemingly unbeatable foe. …
One night after an evening out, Jason Dessen, forty-year-old physics professor living with his wife and son in Chicago, is kidnapped at gunpoint by a masked man, driven to an abandoned industrial site and injected with a powerful drug. As he wakes, a man Jason's never met smiles down at him and says, "Welcome back, my friend." But this life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife; his son was never born; and he's not an ordinary college professor, but a celebrated genius who has achieved something impossible. Is it this world or the other that's the dream? How can he possibly make it back to the family he loves? The answers lie in a journey more wondrous and horrifying than anything he could have imagined--one that will force him to confront the darkest parts of himself as he battles a terrifying, seemingly unbeatable foe. --
3+ [from my Litsy feed at the time: Man, this book worked so hard to get me to read it—it popped up in my face at every turn for months! It's a mystery, set in Chicago, about smart & creative people. I couldn't not read it! It was good, but not spectacular.]
This is a great book that explores the question: what if I had done something differently and what is a successful life.
There are nit picky problem, but I still give it 5 stars and recommend it to everyone.
Thanks to my sister for recommending it to me.
The premise of the story seemed obvious almost from the get-go, yet the pace of the reveals suggested that the author didn't think so. I'll admit that the complications at the end were a surprise, and I enjoyed the journey to the resolution, I just... I dunno. It didn't grab me like I hoped it would.
What a mind-bending, entirely original book. If you've ever read about (and been intrigued by) Schrödinger's Cat, you will love this book. (If you haven't heard of Schrödiner's Cat, this is a good explainer: www.iflscience.com/physics/schr%C3%B6dinger%E2%80%99s-cat-explained/) At the center of the book is quantum superposition – which sets the stage for a thoroughly fascinating exploration of fundamental concepts of identity, love, regret, fate, and more. Loved the main characters, thrilled by the way [a:Blake Crouch|442240|Blake Crouch|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/authors/1264134132p2/442240.jpg] wove some very weighty physics into a completely engrossing fictional conflict. Just a wonderful read.
