553 pages
English language
Published Jan. 3, 2011 by Quercus.
America, 2036. A wasteland in economic ruin. Terrorism and ultra-violence plague a once powerful society, whose people's only escape is to numb themselves on flashback - a euphoric yet crippingly addictive drug that allows its users to revisit happier, past experiences.
I do have to be in the right mood for hard-boiled detectives and this dragged some. I also have to be in the right frame of mind for an ambiguous ending, but this was at least tied neatly and thought-provoking.
I'm not entirely sure what to make of this book. It's a lot of things; near-future dystopia, murder mystery, violent political thriller, tale of addiction and recovery and (partial) redemption. On most of these fronts it succeeds admirably. It starts slowly but builds up to become a gripping tale that kept me up half the night, desperate to find out what was going on. All the clues are there but the whole thing is baffling until the Agatha Christie style revelation (yes, revelation, not "reveal", ugh!) which is just what I want. I hate to be able to guess correctly in advance. Along the way there are several tense and/or exciting set-pieces. As usual with Simmons, the characters are well drawn, flawed and believable. But all of the above is avoiding what has proved to be the highly controversial element of the story; the dystopia.
THIS REVIEW HAS BEEN CURTAILED …
I'm not entirely sure what to make of this book. It's a lot of things; near-future dystopia, murder mystery, violent political thriller, tale of addiction and recovery and (partial) redemption. On most of these fronts it succeeds admirably. It starts slowly but builds up to become a gripping tale that kept me up half the night, desperate to find out what was going on. All the clues are there but the whole thing is baffling until the Agatha Christie style revelation (yes, revelation, not "reveal", ugh!) which is just what I want. I hate to be able to guess correctly in advance. Along the way there are several tense and/or exciting set-pieces. As usual with Simmons, the characters are well drawn, flawed and believable. But all of the above is avoiding what has proved to be the highly controversial element of the story; the dystopia.
THIS REVIEW HAS BEEN CURTAILED IN PROTEST AT GOODREADS' CENSORSHIP POLICY
See the complete review here:
http://arbieroo.booklikes.com/post/908628/flashback-dan-simmons
