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clockless's review
3.0
This is a tough book to review. I really liked the first two thirds or so; if you took away the sci-fi elements and replaced the computer transcriptions with more lengthy flashbacks, it would be a really great, touching novel about a grandmother and grandson -- one slowly losing herself and the other not willing to accept it -- deep parallels and whatnot. I would have really enjoyed that book, I think.
Add the sci-fi elements back in, and it becomes a kind of standard, slightly boring, slightly preachy, and not altogether believable thriller, which is essentially all that is left for the final third. My advice would be to read the first 39 or 40 chapters, then close the book and assume that everyone suddenly died. Call it an earthquake or something, I think it would be a better ending.
Add the sci-fi elements back in, and it becomes a kind of standard, slightly boring, slightly preachy, and not altogether believable thriller, which is essentially all that is left for the final third. My advice would be to read the first 39 or 40 chapters, then close the book and assume that everyone suddenly died. Call it an earthquake or something, I think it would be a better ending.
aturtlesnestbookreviews's review against another edition
4.0
My first Nat Idle mystery. I enjoyed it, we can relate to the two main characters and it is a convenient read with short chapters.
mhanlon's review
2.0
I picked this book up because it was the iBookstore pick of the week and I hoped I'd be introduced to a new author whom I'd enjoy.
I don't think Matt Richtel and I started off on the right foot, though. I just couldn't get comfortable with Nat Idle, his main character. He seemed like a real douche bag, very smarter than thou, standoff-ish, not terribly interesting. And he was meant to carry the entire book. You were supposed to be rooting for him, but between him basically just being a piece of detritus, carried upon a sea over which he largely had no control, and the loving detail spent going over the various neighborhoods and scenes in San Francisco and the valley below it, I just couldn't stomach it. I don't quite get many people's love affair with the city in the book, so maybe it wasn't really meant for me, maybe it's more palatable if you *do* love it.
But I do find it hard that anyone is going to find the tone deaf and emotionally stunted main character someone with whom they want to spend a lot of time.
Matt writes a page turner well enough, it's just the characters I found really uninteresting, and I think I was turning the pages just to get it over with by the end of the first quarter of the book.
I don't think Matt Richtel and I started off on the right foot, though. I just couldn't get comfortable with Nat Idle, his main character. He seemed like a real douche bag, very smarter than thou, standoff-ish, not terribly interesting. And he was meant to carry the entire book. You were supposed to be rooting for him, but between him basically just being a piece of detritus, carried upon a sea over which he largely had no control, and the loving detail spent going over the various neighborhoods and scenes in San Francisco and the valley below it, I just couldn't stomach it. I don't quite get many people's love affair with the city in the book, so maybe it wasn't really meant for me, maybe it's more palatable if you *do* love it.
But I do find it hard that anyone is going to find the tone deaf and emotionally stunted main character someone with whom they want to spend a lot of time.
Matt writes a page turner well enough, it's just the characters I found really uninteresting, and I think I was turning the pages just to get it over with by the end of the first quarter of the book.
laureng's review
3.0
Whoever did the outside covers of this book should really have not been allowed to do so. I initially borrowed this book because between the name, the quotes on the back cover, and the description it seemed so incredibly stupid I thought it would be an absolute riot to read.
This is actually an entertaining book. I read it all in one sitting as the plot did pull me in. I thought it was a little unbelievable, to the point where I wasn't sure if the main character wasn't actually a complete nut. Something about the overall story was a little bit too far-fetched. I also found the main character constantly summing up what had happened so far multiple times as if this story had been published in multiple parts. I don't believe it was, so I am unsure why the story was summed up for me over and over and over again. I also can't pinpoint why, but something about the end was a little unsatisfying.
overall it was an entertaining read. I'd probably read the sequel, but I won't go out of my way to find it. The book feels pretty much wrapped up at the end.
This is actually an entertaining book. I read it all in one sitting as the plot did pull me in. I thought it was a little unbelievable, to the point where I wasn't sure if the main character wasn't actually a complete nut. Something about the overall story was a little bit too far-fetched. I also found the main character constantly summing up what had happened so far multiple times as if this story had been published in multiple parts. I don't believe it was, so I am unsure why the story was summed up for me over and over and over again. I also can't pinpoint why, but something about the end was a little unsatisfying.
overall it was an entertaining read. I'd probably read the sequel, but I won't go out of my way to find it. The book feels pretty much wrapped up at the end.
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