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quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
It’s ten years since the attack that reduced Pittsburgh to ashes
Today all that remains is the Archive: an interactive digital record of the city and its people.
John Dominic Blaxton is a survivor, one of the ‘lucky ones’ who escaped the blast. Crippled by the loss of his wife and unborn daughter, he spends his days immersed in the Archive with the ghosts of yesterday.
It is there he finds the digital record of a body: a woman, lying face down, half buried in mud. Who is she … and why is someone hacking into the system and deleting the record of her seemingly unremarkable life? This question will drag Dominic from the darkest corners of the past into a deadly and very present nightmare.
It’s the near future, 10 years after a terrorist carried out a suicide bombing on Pittsburgh with a nuclear device that destroyed the entire city. John Dominic Blaxton was out of town on the day of the attack but his wife Theresa was one of the millions who died and John’s emotionally crippled by her loss. Pittsburgh has been recreated on-line using CCTV and personal footage to form a virtual experience called the Archive that allows people to effectively walk around and interact with the dead. John works as a researcher in the Archive for insurance companies contesting policy claims but he also spends his spare time there, using illegal drugs as he relives his memories of life with Theresa to make them as realistic as possible.
While investigating an insurance claim brought by the relatives of Hannah Massey, Blaxton discovers that she was murdered and that someone is altering the Archive to delete all references to her. When pressure is put on him to drop the investigation, he finds himself swept into a conspiracy that will threaten everything he has left – including his memories of Theresa …
Thomas Sweterlitsch’s debut SF novel is a technological thriller about grief and loss and the extent to which the virtual world can become a crutch for those looking to escape. There are some great ideas here – I particularly liked the idea of the Archive and the development of in-brain technology called Adware that connects to the internet and I also enjoyed the dystopian view of the future, complete with a telegenic, death dealing female president. However, there’s little explanation for how that technology works (a particular problem with the Archieve, which hinges on the idea of so much being recorded and accessible) and there were times when it left me confused (e.g. how it was possible to use Adware to email). More seriously, Blaxton crosses the line between being a grief-struck character and a self-pitying one and his refusal to undertake anything to help move on left me irritated at times. I also disliked the fact that Sweterlisch uses the same plot device twice to turn the tables on Blaxton and the antagonists (once revealed) are stock psychos without any real depth or motivation for their actions. Although this book didn’t quite work for me, there’s enough here for me to check out what Sweterlitsch does next.
The Verdict:
Thomas Sweterlitsch’s debut SF novel is a technological thriller about grief and loss and the extent to which the virtual world can become a crutch for those looking to escape. There are some great ideas here – I particularly liked the idea of the Archive and the development of in-brain technology called Adware that connects to the internet and I also enjoyed the dystopian view of the future, complete with a telegenic, death dealing female president. However, there’s little explanation for how that technology works (a particular problem with the Archieve, which hinges on the idea of so much being recorded and accessible) and there were times when it left me confused (e.g. how it was possible to use Adware to email). More seriously, Blaxton crosses the line between being a grief-struck character and a self-pitying one and his refusal to undertake anything to help move on left me irritated at times. I also disliked the fact that Sweterlisch uses the same plot device twice to turn the tables on Blaxton and the antagonists (once revealed) are stock psychos without any real depth or motivation for their actions. Although this book didn’t quite work for me, there’s enough here for me to check out what Sweterlitsch does next.
TOMORROW AND TOMORROW was released in the United Kingdom on 17th July 2014. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the ARC of this book.
Today all that remains is the Archive: an interactive digital record of the city and its people.
John Dominic Blaxton is a survivor, one of the ‘lucky ones’ who escaped the blast. Crippled by the loss of his wife and unborn daughter, he spends his days immersed in the Archive with the ghosts of yesterday.
It is there he finds the digital record of a body: a woman, lying face down, half buried in mud. Who is she … and why is someone hacking into the system and deleting the record of her seemingly unremarkable life? This question will drag Dominic from the darkest corners of the past into a deadly and very present nightmare.
It’s the near future, 10 years after a terrorist carried out a suicide bombing on Pittsburgh with a nuclear device that destroyed the entire city. John Dominic Blaxton was out of town on the day of the attack but his wife Theresa was one of the millions who died and John’s emotionally crippled by her loss. Pittsburgh has been recreated on-line using CCTV and personal footage to form a virtual experience called the Archive that allows people to effectively walk around and interact with the dead. John works as a researcher in the Archive for insurance companies contesting policy claims but he also spends his spare time there, using illegal drugs as he relives his memories of life with Theresa to make them as realistic as possible.
While investigating an insurance claim brought by the relatives of Hannah Massey, Blaxton discovers that she was murdered and that someone is altering the Archive to delete all references to her. When pressure is put on him to drop the investigation, he finds himself swept into a conspiracy that will threaten everything he has left – including his memories of Theresa …
Thomas Sweterlitsch’s debut SF novel is a technological thriller about grief and loss and the extent to which the virtual world can become a crutch for those looking to escape. There are some great ideas here – I particularly liked the idea of the Archive and the development of in-brain technology called Adware that connects to the internet and I also enjoyed the dystopian view of the future, complete with a telegenic, death dealing female president. However, there’s little explanation for how that technology works (a particular problem with the Archieve, which hinges on the idea of so much being recorded and accessible) and there were times when it left me confused (e.g. how it was possible to use Adware to email). More seriously, Blaxton crosses the line between being a grief-struck character and a self-pitying one and his refusal to undertake anything to help move on left me irritated at times. I also disliked the fact that Sweterlisch uses the same plot device twice to turn the tables on Blaxton and the antagonists (once revealed) are stock psychos without any real depth or motivation for their actions. Although this book didn’t quite work for me, there’s enough here for me to check out what Sweterlitsch does next.
The Verdict:
Thomas Sweterlitsch’s debut SF novel is a technological thriller about grief and loss and the extent to which the virtual world can become a crutch for those looking to escape. There are some great ideas here – I particularly liked the idea of the Archive and the development of in-brain technology called Adware that connects to the internet and I also enjoyed the dystopian view of the future, complete with a telegenic, death dealing female president. However, there’s little explanation for how that technology works (a particular problem with the Archieve, which hinges on the idea of so much being recorded and accessible) and there were times when it left me confused (e.g. how it was possible to use Adware to email). More seriously, Blaxton crosses the line between being a grief-struck character and a self-pitying one and his refusal to undertake anything to help move on left me irritated at times. I also disliked the fact that Sweterlisch uses the same plot device twice to turn the tables on Blaxton and the antagonists (once revealed) are stock psychos without any real depth or motivation for their actions. Although this book didn’t quite work for me, there’s enough here for me to check out what Sweterlitsch does next.
TOMORROW AND TOMORROW was released in the United Kingdom on 17th July 2014. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the ARC of this book.
