The Gone World
2018 • 304 pages
Ratings35
Average rating3.9
15
Ratings35
Average rating3.9
The Silence of the Lambs meets Interstellar. The terrifying, thrilling and ingenious science-fiction thriller from Tom Sweterlitsch. Film rights bought by Twentieth Century Fox with Neil Blomkamp (District 9, Elysium) to direct. 'Thrilling . . . [a] dark, page-turning thriller' The Guardian A murdered family. A missing girl. Time is running out... 1997. Shannon Moss of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service is assigned to solve the murder of a Navy SEAL's family - and to locate the soldier's missing teenage daughter. When Moss discovers that the SEAL was an astronaut aboard the spaceship U.S.S. Libra - a ship assumed lost to the darkest currents of Deep Time - she comes to believe that the SEAL's experience with the future is somehow related to this violence. Determined to find the missing girl and driven by a troubling connection to her own past, Moss must travel forward in time to seek evidence that will uncover the truth. To her horror, the future reveals that it's not only the fate of a family that hinges on her work; for what she witnesses is the Terminus: the terrifying and cataclysmic end of humanity itself. 'Edge-of-your-seat crime fiction that bends both time and mind. Think True Detective meets 12 Monkeys. Throw in the end of the world and you can begin to imagine where this gut-twisting tale will take you. This is cross-genre fiction at its best' Sylvain Neuvel, author of Sleeping Giants
Reviews with the most likes.
A well written and complex story, but for some reason I found it oddly disturbing.
I feel like the author doesn't really understand the science behind his concepts or base it on something real, but the take on time trial was kinda novel. I wasn't a fan of one of the revelations at the end because it made me feel like I wasted my time reading this, but as I write this review I've just thought about how this revelation and ultimately the resolution at the end of the novel is very similar to what happens in the TV show Dark which I think is masterpiece. So I guess it's the journey that makes the difference and I didn't really find it as compelling as in Dark. The book is really well written though and has this haunting undertext woven through in descriptions of scenes. Overall I think within time travel media this book is probably solidly middle of the pack.
Also this blurb:
“I promise you have never read a story like this.” —Blake Crouch, New York Times bestselling author of Dark Matter
The Gone World is an insteresting thriller with time travel elements and some bits of horror.
What is not is the marketing's salad combination of Inception, True Detective, 12 Monkeys, Interstellar, and The Silence of the Lambs.
I see how this book can appeal to those who enjoy the aforementioned movies, but it is definitely not all those things combined or even separated. It has nothing remotely close to Interestellar or Inception. Probably some bits of True Detective, but that's it. It also does a disservice to the book because I think it can stand by itself without being hyped with those blurbs.
Anyway, the story here is that of an officer from the NCIS who is sent to solve a case that involves murder and dissapearance. In the process, she finds herself traveling to the past and to many futures, trying to find answers to unraveling mysteries. This includes the end of the world, a different version of herself, etc.
An intriguing sense of gloom and doom is present throughout the whole story, captivating the reader with what could possibly be the resolution.
The book does a good job wiring paradoxes and blending thriller with Science Fiction elements.
Definitely one of the best surprises of the year. A year full of dull SF stories.
