Title: The Fold
Author: Peter Clines
Category/Genre: Adult Sci-Fi
My Star Rating: 3/5
Goodreads blurb:
STEP INTO THE FOLD.
IT’S PERFECTLY SAFE.
The folks in Mike Erikson's small New England town would say he's just
your average, everyday guy. And that's exactly how Mike likes it. Sure,
the life he's chosen isn’t much of a challenge to someone with his
unique gifts, but he’s content with his quiet and peaceful existence.
That is, until an old friend presents him with an irresistible mystery,
one that Mike is uniquely qualified to solve: far out in the California
desert, a team of DARPA scientists has invented a device they
affectionately call the Albuquerque Door. Using a cryptic computer
equation and magnetic fields to “fold” dimensions, it shrinks distances
so that a traveler can travel hundreds of feet with a single step.
The
invention promises to make mankind’s dreams of teleportation a reality.
And, the scientists insist, traveling through the Door is completely
safe.
Yet evidence is mounting that this miraculous machine
isn’t quite what it seems—and that its creators are harboring a
dangerous secret.
As his investigations draw him deeper into
the puzzle, Mike begins to fear there’s only one answer that makes
sense. And if he’s right, it may only be a matter of time before the
project destroys…everything.
A cunningly inventive mystery featuring a hero worthy of Sherlock Holmes and a terrifying final twist you’ll never see coming, The Fold
is that rarest of things: a genuinely page-turning science-fiction
thriller. Step inside its pages and learn why author Peter Clines has
already won legions of loyal fans.
My Review:
The premise of this story was SO promising, and I was so excited to dive right into this book. Enter chapter one: pure excitement and grabs you straight from the get-go. As you get further in, the amount of research that went into all the little details becomes obvious. The characterization was my favorite thing about this book, though. Leland (Mike), the main character, has so many unique character traits that were articulated so well it became easy to feel like you knew him.
The secondary characters are treated with just as much care, to the point where you didn't need a tagline to know who was speaking.
That said, I struggled to
stay interested in the story. After the first couple of chapters, the story slows significantly, then towards the middle it gets crazy again, then drags out some more until the end. Personally, I feel like about 75 pages of the story could have been taken out and I would've enjoyed it much more.
**I received a complimentary copy from Blogging For Books in exchange for a honest review**
About The Author
Peter Clines
is the author of the genre-blending
-14-
and the
Ex-Heroes
series.
He grew up in the Stephen King fallout zone of Maine and--inspired by comic books, Star Wars, and Saturday morning cartoons--started writing at the age of eight with his first epic novel, Lizard Men From The Center of The Earth(unreleased).
He
made his first writing sale at age seventeen to a local newspaper, and
at the age of nineteen he completed his quadruple-PhD studies in English
literature, archaeology, quantum physics, and interpretive dance. In
2008, while surfing Hawaii's Keauwaula Beach, he thought up a viable way
to maintain cold fusion that would also solve world hunger, but forgot
about it when he ran into actress Yvonne Strahvorski back on the beach
and she offered to buy him a drink. He was the inspiration for both the
epic poem Beowulf and the motion picture Raiders of the Lost Ark,
and is single-handedly responsible for repelling the Martian Invasion
of 1938 that occurred in Grovers Mills, New Jersey. Eleven sonnets he
wrote to impress a girl in high school were all later found and
attributed to Shakespeare.
He is the writer of countless film articles, several short stories, The Junkie Quatrain, the rarely-read The Eerie Adventures of the Lycanthrope Robinson Crusoe, the poorly-named website
Writer on Writing
, and an as-yet-undiscovered Dead Sea Scroll.
He currently lives and writes somewhere in southern California.
There is compelling evidence that he is, in fact, the Lindbergh baby.