What do you think?
Rate this book
Threshold #2
The Fold
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Best Science Fiction (2015)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.
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.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published June 2, 2015
About the author
Peter Clines
36 books4,166 followers
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.
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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,271 reviews
July 19, 2015
The first 260 pages of this book are easily 4.5/5 stars. The last 100...are not. Maybe 3.5 stars in the end?
Must ponder further and fight the disappointment that is all the more crushing because the first 2/3 of this book was so brilliant.
Must ponder further and fight the disappointment that is all the more crushing because the first 2/3 of this book was so brilliant.
August 1, 2015
Mike's a small town teacher. He just wants a normal life. The thing is Mike has a gift/curse/secret. He has an eidetic memory.
Calm down Reid fangirls. He looks more like this.
His memory skills are super charged. The guy is a walking computer. He sees it in his head as ants moving information around.
I don't think I want any ants in my head but this part of the book had me hooked.
Then his friend who heads some government agency or such wants him into his organization. Why? To go out and objectively "look" into an expensive project that he is funding.
The project? These guys have set up a "Fold" that lets you transport/teleport to another place.
So very cool! And very sciency! I like!
I started reading this book yesterday and I was hooked. The writing was so good and it kept my attention. Then my husband decides we need to go to the grocery store. He mumbled something about needing to eat instead of read all the time. I usually just ignore him but the boy child was looking at me funny so I caved.
Once I got back I picked the book back up. I was at around page 270 and I think someone snuck in and changed books on me...Because the book did this:
I mean really?!?!?!
You can't give me such an awesome book and the throw in that towel. I wanted MORE! More goodness not crazy shit.
I'm thinking a five star for the book before page 270 and a two star for the rest. Average 3 big old stars.
I didn't hate it but I thought the book deserved better.
Book source:blogging for books in exchange for review.
Calm down Reid fangirls. He looks more like this.
His memory skills are super charged. The guy is a walking computer. He sees it in his head as ants moving information around.
I don't think I want any ants in my head but this part of the book had me hooked.
Then his friend who heads some government agency or such wants him into his organization. Why? To go out and objectively "look" into an expensive project that he is funding.
The project? These guys have set up a "Fold" that lets you transport/teleport to another place.
So very cool! And very sciency! I like!
I started reading this book yesterday and I was hooked. The writing was so good and it kept my attention. Then my husband decides we need to go to the grocery store. He mumbled something about needing to eat instead of read all the time. I usually just ignore him but the boy child was looking at me funny so I caved.
Once I got back I picked the book back up. I was at around page 270 and I think someone snuck in and changed books on me...Because the book did this:
I mean really?!?!?!
You can't give me such an awesome book and the throw in that towel. I wanted MORE! More goodness not crazy shit.
I'm thinking a five star for the book before page 270 and a two star for the rest. Average 3 big old stars.
I didn't hate it but I thought the book deserved better.
Book source:blogging for books in exchange for review.
April 5, 2021
💌 To my dear friends who were silly enough to give this book 4 and 5-star ratings: I love you. Despite your spectacular lack of judgement.
This book in two words: mediocre and juvenile. Yes, this is officially the worst Science Fiction book I have ever read. The only thing I liked about it? The premise. And to be honest, I'm not even sure why I'm giving this two stars when it doesn't deserve more than one. This has to be the stupidest, most ridiculous, most uninteresting SF story ever written and a disgrace to the genre.
Am I being too harsh? Maybe. But you know what? I don’t care. Because this is a total travesty. And a badly written, juvenile one at that. This book right here is the perfect script for one of those crappy sci-fi series you see on TV. And I wouldn’t be surprised if it was made into one of those brainless Hollywood blockbusters *fingers start itching* *fingers start hovering uncontrollably over the 1-star button*
What I liked less about this book? Good question. The characters? The story? Both? I'm not sure actually. Let's see what we have here:
Meet Mike. Mike is an uber genius. Mike’s IQ would make Stephen Hawking feel like a total nitwit. Mike is super cool. Mike looks like Professor Snape (I'm not even making this up, it's the author's very own, brilliant idea). Mike is SO Freaking Intelligent he has figurative ants crawling around in his head. Not just your regular, boring, black ants either. He has red ants crawling around, too. Wow. Told you Mike was cool. Mike's ants are so Freaking Awesome they process all the data that comes into Mike's Freakingly Amazing Brain. And believe me, that's a whole lot of data. Because Mikey here has an eidetic memory, meaning he remembers in detail everything he's ever heard, seen or experienced. Man, do Mikey's ants have their work cut out for them. Cline obviously fell in love with his Freaking Ants idea. He cannot stop writing about them. I got so tired of hearing about the Freaking Ants that I even considered pulverizing them into oblivion. Then it occurred to me that using bug spray on my Kindle might not be such a great idea after all. Although I must admit that a dead Kindle can come in pretty handy sometimes.
But I digress. Do you know what's really really cool about Mikey here? He's an undercover genius. Yes he is. He keeps his mind-blowing mental abilities so well-hidden you would never tell he's got a 1000+ IQ. I mean, he acts like a stupid idiot most of the time. And don't get me started on his conversations with his friend Reggie (who is supposedly pretty intelligent himself since he runs a super top secret DARPA program). Let me tell you, these guys are worse than teenagers.
Mike is actually named Leland, by the way. But Leland sucks. Leland is not cool. Back when he was in high school some people started calling Leland Mike. Because Mike is short for Mycroft. As in Mycroft Holmes, of course. Sigh. Mr Cline, could you please try and refrain from insulting Mr Conan Doyle in the future? Thank you.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is Leland-Mike-Mycroft-Bloody-Hell-I’m-So-Freaking-Cool-Erikson for you. I am so NOT snatching this guy for my harem.
Now for the other awesome characters in this story. They are nothing but a sketchy, one-dimensional, paper-thin bunch of walking stereotypes. And they're an unlikeable bunch of pathetic, idiotic scientists, too. Yes, pathetic and idiotic. Because alcoholic reasons, amongst many other things. But more on that later. My favorite unlikeable character? Oooh, that's a tough one. Let me think for a minute here… I do love Sasha and her extensive vocabulary: sometimes she says 'fuck,' sometimes she says 'me.' Most times she says 'fuck me.' When finding herself in particularly dire circumstances she might even go as far as saying 'fuck me hard.' Yes, Sasha really is a delightful girl. A real poet, that one. But let me tell you, Sasha has nothing on Jamie, the ex-cheerleader turned hacker/geek/computer genius. Jamie is hot, Jamie is cool, Jamie is brilliantly clever. Oh how I would love to watch Lisbeth Salander kick her stupid ass.
You know, come to think of it it's not the ants I should have pulverized. It's the whole cast of characters.
Let's see. The first 40% of the book are completely superfluous. Nothing happens. Apart maybe from Mikey's adventures in dining and trailer furnishing. And the author rehashing how amazingly brilliant and brilliantly amazing dear Mikey is. And let's not forget about the crawling ants. Oh no, we can't forget about the ants. Well even if you wanted to forget about them, you wouldn't be able to. Mr Cline wouldn't allow it. Anyway, the first part of the book? Amazingly fascinating stuff. Then I must admit it gets pretty good for about 10%. But then it goes downhill. Fast. VERY FAST.
Naively enough, I was expecting to read about scientific facts here. I mean this, after all, is supposed to be science-fiction. 'Supposed' being the operative word here. Does the author give us an explanation on how the Door works? Nah! Why on earth would he do such a silly thing?! Cline obviously decided science was overrated. Or maybe he was just too lazy to try and give technical/scientific substance to his story. Still, I have to admit he was particularly clever about it all. Because there is an actual reason why he doesn't explain a thing about the Door. And this is where my beloved pathetic, idiotic scientists come in. So the moral of this story is:
If this isn't the most pathetic plot device ever, I don't know what it is. Well done, Mr Cline. I'm awarding you with the Cheapest Plot Trick Award.
So here I was, thinking this couldn't get much worse. Sarah, Sarah, Sarah. You never learn, don't you? It can ALWAYS get worse. And it ALWAYS does. Sigh. You see, since this story wasn't disastrous enough as it was, Mr Cline decided to throw in a bunch of for good measure. Yay! How neat! Just what we needed to turn this into an even bigger mess!
But that's not all! No! It gets even worse! Because who better than the to save the day? ← I got dizzy at this point. Dizzy from too much head-shaking and eye-rolling. Still not sure how I made it to the very last page of the book without fainting.
➽ So where does that take us? My personal ants are trying to come up with a word to define it all. But they're not Mikey's supercharged bugs so it takes them time to process the little data inside my little head. Please hold on a sec while they rummage through the junk. Oh, here it is! LAME is the word. Lame, lame, lame. And CLICHED. Yes, that too. And you know what? I have now come to the conclusion that there is no way in hell I can give this story a 2-star rating. No, that is just not possible. So 1-star it is. Yay.
(To the hilarious people who shelved this as Horror: what have you been smoking lately? Must be high quality stuff! Then again you might not have been smoking anything and just thought this was horrifically bad, hence the shelving. Now that would make a lot more sense.)
💌 To my dear friends who were silly enough to give this book 4 and 5-star ratings: I insist. I love you despite your spectacular lack of judgment. You, on the other hand, might not love me very much after reading this review. But that's okay. I forgive you. And I will always love you no matter what. Maybe.
This book in two words: mediocre and juvenile. Yes, this is officially the worst Science Fiction book I have ever read. The only thing I liked about it? The premise. And to be honest, I'm not even sure why I'm giving this two stars when it doesn't deserve more than one. This has to be the stupidest, most ridiculous, most uninteresting SF story ever written and a disgrace to the genre.
Am I being too harsh? Maybe. But you know what? I don’t care. Because this is a total travesty. And a badly written, juvenile one at that. This book right here is the perfect script for one of those crappy sci-fi series you see on TV. And I wouldn’t be surprised if it was made into one of those brainless Hollywood blockbusters *fingers start itching* *fingers start hovering uncontrollably over the 1-star button*
What I liked less about this book? Good question. The characters? The story? Both? I'm not sure actually. Let's see what we have here:
Meet Mike. Mike is an uber genius. Mike’s IQ would make Stephen Hawking feel like a total nitwit. Mike is super cool. Mike looks like Professor Snape (I'm not even making this up, it's the author's very own, brilliant idea). Mike is SO Freaking Intelligent he has figurative ants crawling around in his head. Not just your regular, boring, black ants either. He has red ants crawling around, too. Wow. Told you Mike was cool. Mike's ants are so Freaking Awesome they process all the data that comes into Mike's Freakingly Amazing Brain. And believe me, that's a whole lot of data. Because Mikey here has an eidetic memory, meaning he remembers in detail everything he's ever heard, seen or experienced. Man, do Mikey's ants have their work cut out for them. Cline obviously fell in love with his Freaking Ants idea. He cannot stop writing about them. I got so tired of hearing about the Freaking Ants that I even considered pulverizing them into oblivion. Then it occurred to me that using bug spray on my Kindle might not be such a great idea after all. Although I must admit that a dead Kindle can come in pretty handy sometimes.
But I digress. Do you know what's really really cool about Mikey here? He's an undercover genius. Yes he is. He keeps his mind-blowing mental abilities so well-hidden you would never tell he's got a 1000+ IQ. I mean, he acts like a stupid idiot most of the time. And don't get me started on his conversations with his friend Reggie (who is supposedly pretty intelligent himself since he runs a super top secret DARPA program). Let me tell you, these guys are worse than teenagers.
Mike is actually named Leland, by the way. But Leland sucks. Leland is not cool. Back when he was in high school some people started calling Leland Mike. Because Mike is short for Mycroft. As in Mycroft Holmes, of course. Sigh. Mr Cline, could you please try and refrain from insulting Mr Conan Doyle in the future? Thank you.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is Leland-Mike-Mycroft-Bloody-Hell-I’m-So-Freaking-Cool-Erikson for you. I am so NOT snatching this guy for my harem.
Now for the other awesome characters in this story. They are nothing but a sketchy, one-dimensional, paper-thin bunch of walking stereotypes. And they're an unlikeable bunch of pathetic, idiotic scientists, too. Yes, pathetic and idiotic. Because alcoholic reasons, amongst many other things. But more on that later. My favorite unlikeable character? Oooh, that's a tough one. Let me think for a minute here… I do love Sasha and her extensive vocabulary: sometimes she says 'fuck,' sometimes she says 'me.' Most times she says 'fuck me.' When finding herself in particularly dire circumstances she might even go as far as saying 'fuck me hard.' Yes, Sasha really is a delightful girl. A real poet, that one. But let me tell you, Sasha has nothing on Jamie, the ex-cheerleader turned hacker/geek/computer genius. Jamie is hot, Jamie is cool, Jamie is brilliantly clever. Oh how I would love to watch Lisbeth Salander kick her stupid ass.
You know, come to think of it it's not the ants I should have pulverized. It's the whole cast of characters.
Let's see. The first 40% of the book are completely superfluous. Nothing happens. Apart maybe from Mikey's adventures in dining and trailer furnishing. And the author rehashing how amazingly brilliant and brilliantly amazing dear Mikey is. And let's not forget about the crawling ants. Oh no, we can't forget about the ants. Well even if you wanted to forget about them, you wouldn't be able to. Mr Cline wouldn't allow it. Anyway, the first part of the book? Amazingly fascinating stuff. Then I must admit it gets pretty good for about 10%. But then it goes downhill. Fast. VERY FAST.
Naively enough, I was expecting to read about scientific facts here. I mean this, after all, is supposed to be science-fiction. 'Supposed' being the operative word here. Does the author give us an explanation on how the Door works? Nah! Why on earth would he do such a silly thing?! Cline obviously decided science was overrated. Or maybe he was just too lazy to try and give technical/scientific substance to his story. Still, I have to admit he was particularly clever about it all. Because there is an actual reason why he doesn't explain a thing about the Door. And this is where my beloved pathetic, idiotic scientists come in. So the moral of this story is:
If this isn't the most pathetic plot device ever, I don't know what it is. Well done, Mr Cline. I'm awarding you with the Cheapest Plot Trick Award.
So here I was, thinking this couldn't get much worse. Sarah, Sarah, Sarah. You never learn, don't you? It can ALWAYS get worse. And it ALWAYS does. Sigh. You see, since this story wasn't disastrous enough as it was, Mr Cline decided to throw in a bunch of for good measure. Yay! How neat! Just what we needed to turn this into an even bigger mess!
But that's not all! No! It gets even worse! Because who better than the to save the day? ← I got dizzy at this point. Dizzy from too much head-shaking and eye-rolling. Still not sure how I made it to the very last page of the book without fainting.
➽ So where does that take us? My personal ants are trying to come up with a word to define it all. But they're not Mikey's supercharged bugs so it takes them time to process the little data inside my little head. Please hold on a sec while they rummage through the junk. Oh, here it is! LAME is the word. Lame, lame, lame. And CLICHED. Yes, that too. And you know what? I have now come to the conclusion that there is no way in hell I can give this story a 2-star rating. No, that is just not possible. So 1-star it is. Yay.
(To the hilarious people who shelved this as Horror: what have you been smoking lately? Must be high quality stuff! Then again you might not have been smoking anything and just thought this was horrifically bad, hence the shelving. Now that would make a lot more sense.)
💌 To my dear friends who were silly enough to give this book 4 and 5-star ratings: I insist. I love you despite your spectacular lack of judgment. You, on the other hand, might not love me very much after reading this review. But that's okay. I forgive you. And I will always love you no matter what. Maybe.
July 24, 2015
Adult science fiction
I read this book very quickly – always a sign that I liked it. The story moves along at a brisk pace. The mystery keeps unfolding in increasingly bizarre new layers. A team of scientists discovers a way to teleport matter between two rings – very much like Stargate, though early on we are warned not to make that comparison, because the scientists hate it. The only problem: The team is secretive about how the technology works, and why they insist on testing it for another year before publically announcing the breakthrough. Strange things begin to happen. People from the team start behaving in odd ways. At first, it’s nothing big, but still . . . the powers that be ask Mike Erikson, a man with a perfect memory, to visit the facility and find out what the team is hiding before ruling on whether or not to extend funding. Things get weird (and dangerous) very quickly.
This book is sort of the opposite of All The Light We Cannot See. Read The Fold for the plot, not the writing. The prose is workmanlike and gets the job done, but don’t expect evocative descriptions or nuanced characterization. Sometimes the writing gets in the way, at least it did for me. For instance, the author uses the pacing mechanism “A moment passed” so often that it became unintentionally funny. I was reminded of the old Monty Python sketch: “A moment passed. Another moment passed. Then, suddenly, another moment that seemed like the same moment but was actually a different moment . . . passed.” Despite that nitpicking, the book is a real page-turner. If you want a good beach read that you can finish quickly and don’t have to think about too much, this is great entertainment.
I read this book very quickly – always a sign that I liked it. The story moves along at a brisk pace. The mystery keeps unfolding in increasingly bizarre new layers. A team of scientists discovers a way to teleport matter between two rings – very much like Stargate, though early on we are warned not to make that comparison, because the scientists hate it. The only problem: The team is secretive about how the technology works, and why they insist on testing it for another year before publically announcing the breakthrough. Strange things begin to happen. People from the team start behaving in odd ways. At first, it’s nothing big, but still . . . the powers that be ask Mike Erikson, a man with a perfect memory, to visit the facility and find out what the team is hiding before ruling on whether or not to extend funding. Things get weird (and dangerous) very quickly.
This book is sort of the opposite of All The Light We Cannot See. Read The Fold for the plot, not the writing. The prose is workmanlike and gets the job done, but don’t expect evocative descriptions or nuanced characterization. Sometimes the writing gets in the way, at least it did for me. For instance, the author uses the pacing mechanism “A moment passed” so often that it became unintentionally funny. I was reminded of the old Monty Python sketch: “A moment passed. Another moment passed. Then, suddenly, another moment that seemed like the same moment but was actually a different moment . . . passed.” Despite that nitpicking, the book is a real page-turner. If you want a good beach read that you can finish quickly and don’t have to think about too much, this is great entertainment.
October 2, 2018
This SF techno-thriller isn't perfect but I really liked the concept and the brilliant main character.
This was a fun one. Leland Erikson, called "Mike" for an intriguing reason that I won't spoil for you, is a high school English teacher. He has a genius level IQ as well as an eidetic (photographic) memory, but he wants to live a normal life, so he takes only low-profile jobs. Mike's quiet life is periodically invaded by his old friend, Reggie Magnus, who now works for the government and is keen to get Mike to take on various high tech projects for him. But Mike has never before been tempted to interrupt his small-town life to agree to Reggie's pleas.
Reggie manages to rope him into this latest one, though. There's a top-secret project called the Albuquerque Door: an instant teleportation device developed by a small group of scientists, who are receiving millions in government funding but are stubbornly insisting on keeping their science behind their device completely secret, even from their government funders. And Reggie can't shake the feeling that there's a problem with this project:
This is an easy book to read: it moves along quickly, the dialogue is snappy, the "science" was intriguing and the tension builds continually. The pseudo-science was plausible enough for me to work with, and although my ability to suspend disbelief got a little stretched at the end as the plot took an unexpected turn , it never snapped. And there are a few cool geeky Star Trek references that add to the fun.
I enjoyed Mike as the main character: since age 13 he's been afraid to turn his brain power loose, scared of how it will change his life. Mike repeatedly compares the way his brain works to a swarm of ants, carrying out a series of photographs and images and sounds for him to mentally flip through. The ants simile is used so often that about the 6th time I actually wrote down a note: "Recommend not referring to the ants in Mike's brain so often." But it soon became clear that I was going to be stuck with this metaphor as it resurfaced every few pages, and I went through the tolerate-accept-embrace process, so that by the end of the novel I was actually enjoying it when they put in another appearance: "Cool! There are black and red ants now!" (Black ants are his memories, red ants are his thoughts and analysis.) ETA: I found the ants metaphor a lot more fun in my second read of this book.
Some of the secondary characters stood out, especially Olaf, the grumpy Humphrey Bogart look-alike scientist, and Jamie, a programmer with some major hidden issues, but most of the rest of the cast were not particularly memorable; I tended to get them confused with each other.
A lot of the enjoyment in this story comes from the element of surprise and the tension that builds when you're not sure what's wrong or where the plot is headed, so I recommend that you avoid spoilers and grab a copy of this book when you're in the mood for a techno-thriller.
I received a free copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for a review. Thank you!
Content advisory: frequent F-bombs and a closed-door sex scene.
This was a fun one. Leland Erikson, called "Mike" for an intriguing reason that I won't spoil for you, is a high school English teacher. He has a genius level IQ as well as an eidetic (photographic) memory, but he wants to live a normal life, so he takes only low-profile jobs. Mike's quiet life is periodically invaded by his old friend, Reggie Magnus, who now works for the government and is keen to get Mike to take on various high tech projects for him. But Mike has never before been tempted to interrupt his small-town life to agree to Reggie's pleas.
Reggie manages to rope him into this latest one, though. There's a top-secret project called the Albuquerque Door: an instant teleportation device developed by a small group of scientists, who are receiving millions in government funding but are stubbornly insisting on keeping their science behind their device completely secret, even from their government funders. And Reggie can't shake the feeling that there's a problem with this project:
"You know when you’re in a rush and you put a T-shirt on backward? Even if there’s no tag in it, you don’t have to look in the mirror to know it’s on wrong. You can just feel it."So Mike is sent off to live in the compound with these scientists for a few weeks, on the government's nickel, to see if he can figure out what's going on with this project and what exactly the problem is.
"That’s all you’ve got for me?"
"It’s just wrong," he replied with a shrug. "That’s all I can tell you. There’s something so wrong out there that you can almost feel it in the air. And you know what's the weirdest part?"
"What?"
"I think everyone out there feels the same way."
This is an easy book to read: it moves along quickly, the dialogue is snappy, the "science" was intriguing and the tension builds continually. The pseudo-science was plausible enough for me to work with, and although my ability to suspend disbelief got a little stretched at the end as the plot took an unexpected turn , it never snapped. And there are a few cool geeky Star Trek references that add to the fun.
I enjoyed Mike as the main character: since age 13 he's been afraid to turn his brain power loose, scared of how it will change his life. Mike repeatedly compares the way his brain works to a swarm of ants, carrying out a series of photographs and images and sounds for him to mentally flip through. The ants simile is used so often that about the 6th time I actually wrote down a note: "Recommend not referring to the ants in Mike's brain so often." But it soon became clear that I was going to be stuck with this metaphor as it resurfaced every few pages, and I went through the tolerate-accept-embrace process, so that by the end of the novel I was actually enjoying it when they put in another appearance: "Cool! There are black and red ants now!" (Black ants are his memories, red ants are his thoughts and analysis.) ETA: I found the ants metaphor a lot more fun in my second read of this book.
Some of the secondary characters stood out, especially Olaf, the grumpy Humphrey Bogart look-alike scientist, and Jamie, a programmer with some major hidden issues, but most of the rest of the cast were not particularly memorable; I tended to get them confused with each other.
A lot of the enjoyment in this story comes from the element of surprise and the tension that builds when you're not sure what's wrong or where the plot is headed, so I recommend that you avoid spoilers and grab a copy of this book when you're in the mood for a techno-thriller.
I received a free copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for a review. Thank you!
Content advisory: frequent F-bombs and a closed-door sex scene.
August 1, 2016
When DARPA scientists create a wormhole device in the California desert, why is New England schoolteacher Mike Erikson tapped to investigate the installation? Because Mike Erikson has an eidetic memory and is one of the smartest people on the planet! Can Mike find out what's really going on at the installation despite the secretive scientists?
I got this from Netgalley.
On paper, this book sounded right up my alley. What's not to like about Sherlock monkeying about with some kind of wormhole device? Still, I have a mountain of unread books lying around the Dan Cave. However, after having a few fellow reviewers gush over this, I had to take a closer look. Fortunately, it was still up on Netgalley and I was happy to take the plunge.
The Albequerque Door, named after a Bugs Bunny episode, folds space to transport people and objects between two gates in an instant. Or does it? Mike feels a sense of wrongness when he arrives and things get wronger by the moment. I had a pretty good idea what was happening but it was still a delightful ride getting there.
The ride started slow, like pretty much every time I have to ride somewhere with my parents these days. However, Mike Erikson was interesting enough to keep me hooked until the really crazy stuff started happening. I rarely say this about science fiction and fantasy books but I dearly hope this is the first book in a series starring Mike. He's that damned fascinating.
Anyway, I loved the way things unFolded and the truth behind the door was very cool. When will scientists learn that squamous horrors lurk in pretty much every undiscovered reality? The ended was pretty damned sweet and while it wrapped things up, things were open-ended enough for a string of sequels.
That's about all I have to say. If you like Sherlock, parallel universes, and things of that nature, you won't want to miss The Fold. 4.5 out of 5 stars.
I got this from Netgalley.
On paper, this book sounded right up my alley. What's not to like about Sherlock monkeying about with some kind of wormhole device? Still, I have a mountain of unread books lying around the Dan Cave. However, after having a few fellow reviewers gush over this, I had to take a closer look. Fortunately, it was still up on Netgalley and I was happy to take the plunge.
The Albequerque Door, named after a Bugs Bunny episode, folds space to transport people and objects between two gates in an instant. Or does it? Mike feels a sense of wrongness when he arrives and things get wronger by the moment. I had a pretty good idea what was happening but it was still a delightful ride getting there.
The ride started slow, like pretty much every time I have to ride somewhere with my parents these days. However, Mike Erikson was interesting enough to keep me hooked until the really crazy stuff started happening. I rarely say this about science fiction and fantasy books but I dearly hope this is the first book in a series starring Mike. He's that damned fascinating.
Anyway, I loved the way things unFolded and the truth behind the door was very cool. When will scientists learn that squamous horrors lurk in pretty much every undiscovered reality? The ended was pretty damned sweet and while it wrapped things up, things were open-ended enough for a string of sequels.
That's about all I have to say. If you like Sherlock, parallel universes, and things of that nature, you won't want to miss The Fold. 4.5 out of 5 stars.
January 9, 2022
Oy vey, what can I say? This book was . . . no bueno. With such an intriguing premise and lead, the final product felt like so much wasted potential. Especially considering how much I love science fiction—it’s one of my favorite genres. Well, to clarify, I love smart science fiction, but what you have here is one the most brilliant minds on the planet analyzing a tricky situation, then implementing some of the most maddeningly idiotic and ill-considered strategies imaginable. And isn’t it ironic . . . don’t you think?
Mike Erikson is an uber-genius with unparalleled mental capabilities and an eidetic memory. Everything he’s ever seen or heard gets locked away in that amazing mind forever and can be recalled instantaneously with perfect clarity. That’s a pretty handy party trick, but, unfortunately, he’s not been putting that God-given talent to good use. An old college buddy has repeatedly attempted to recruit him into various DARPA projects—all of which he’s respectfully declined, until now.
The Albuquerque Door is the name of a super-secret government project which is about to change the world of travel forever. A group of scientists have developed a technology which allows a machine to fold the very fabric of space-time and connect any two distant points and cross that span in a single step. New York to Paris, one step; Huston to Mars, one step; Earth to the Andromeda Galaxy, you guessed it. Wow! It all sounds too good to be true, right? Well, the oversight committee is not yet convinced, and they’ll require more information to determine if the project should continue to receive funding.
That’s where Mike comes in. He’s been tasked with reviewing said project to make sure everything works as advertised, and it’s all on the up and up. But the scientists behind this amazing creation have grown paranoid. Fearful of having their work reverse engineered, they’ve kept a tight lid on the inner-workings of the machine. Thus, when Mike arrives on-site, instead of being forthcoming they’ve put up their guard up - reluctant to let any secrets slip . . .
Initially, I was frustrated with the author’s failure to explain the underlying technology—that was one of the most intriguing aspects of the story to me. But I was willing to cut Clines some slack because I thought perhaps he purposely dumbed-down the science to keep from alienating the dumb masses. The search for those answers though was what propelled me through the story, and allowed me to overlook the rather pedestrian writing and poorly developed secondary characters, as well as the fact that most of the scientists were complete assholes while Mike was such a pushover. All of which was ridiculous when you consider that Mike’s final report is what will ultimately determine whether the project gets funded or is forced to shut down. However, as Mike began to unravel more and more secrets, I soon came to realize that Clines had no logical explanations. The story simply became more and more convoluted to the point of absurdity. Then once the source material was finally revealed, it was utterly shocking in its stupidity.
The final straw came when Mike began to propose ways to correct the issues with the machine. We’d been shown throughout the story how brilliant he was, yet his solutions were all so idiotic and ill-conceived and completely ignored any safety considerations. Plus, he’d only been on-site for a few days, yet was able to wrestle complete command from a group of people that had been working together for years. To my mind, it was fairly obvious that all of those brilliant decisions were, in actuality, a simple way for the author to escalate things. Up the chaos quotient. Dial up the suspense. It’s like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife.
The speed at which things spiraled out of control was truly mind-boggling. I only wish Morpheus could have shown up before the final third of the story played out.
“This is your last chance, after this there is no turning back. You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.”
Bottome line: To see such a supposedly clever protagonist involved in such a mindless, silly plot was extremely disappointing, to say the least. Although the first half of the story was fun, the final act was muy loco.
Mike Erikson is an uber-genius with unparalleled mental capabilities and an eidetic memory. Everything he’s ever seen or heard gets locked away in that amazing mind forever and can be recalled instantaneously with perfect clarity. That’s a pretty handy party trick, but, unfortunately, he’s not been putting that God-given talent to good use. An old college buddy has repeatedly attempted to recruit him into various DARPA projects—all of which he’s respectfully declined, until now.
The Albuquerque Door is the name of a super-secret government project which is about to change the world of travel forever. A group of scientists have developed a technology which allows a machine to fold the very fabric of space-time and connect any two distant points and cross that span in a single step. New York to Paris, one step; Huston to Mars, one step; Earth to the Andromeda Galaxy, you guessed it. Wow! It all sounds too good to be true, right? Well, the oversight committee is not yet convinced, and they’ll require more information to determine if the project should continue to receive funding.
That’s where Mike comes in. He’s been tasked with reviewing said project to make sure everything works as advertised, and it’s all on the up and up. But the scientists behind this amazing creation have grown paranoid. Fearful of having their work reverse engineered, they’ve kept a tight lid on the inner-workings of the machine. Thus, when Mike arrives on-site, instead of being forthcoming they’ve put up their guard up - reluctant to let any secrets slip . . .
Initially, I was frustrated with the author’s failure to explain the underlying technology—that was one of the most intriguing aspects of the story to me. But I was willing to cut Clines some slack because I thought perhaps he purposely dumbed-down the science to keep from alienating the dumb masses. The search for those answers though was what propelled me through the story, and allowed me to overlook the rather pedestrian writing and poorly developed secondary characters, as well as the fact that most of the scientists were complete assholes while Mike was such a pushover. All of which was ridiculous when you consider that Mike’s final report is what will ultimately determine whether the project gets funded or is forced to shut down. However, as Mike began to unravel more and more secrets, I soon came to realize that Clines had no logical explanations. The story simply became more and more convoluted to the point of absurdity. Then once the source material was finally revealed, it was utterly shocking in its stupidity.
The final straw came when Mike began to propose ways to correct the issues with the machine. We’d been shown throughout the story how brilliant he was, yet his solutions were all so idiotic and ill-conceived and completely ignored any safety considerations. Plus, he’d only been on-site for a few days, yet was able to wrestle complete command from a group of people that had been working together for years. To my mind, it was fairly obvious that all of those brilliant decisions were, in actuality, a simple way for the author to escalate things. Up the chaos quotient. Dial up the suspense. It’s like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife.
The speed at which things spiraled out of control was truly mind-boggling. I only wish Morpheus could have shown up before the final third of the story played out.
“This is your last chance, after this there is no turning back. You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.”
Bottome line: To see such a supposedly clever protagonist involved in such a mindless, silly plot was extremely disappointing, to say the least. Although the first half of the story was fun, the final act was muy loco.
April 12, 2019
Kindle Daily Deal 11Apr18 $1.99
4.5 Quantum Donut Stars
Buddy Reading with Athena (Shardbearer), Gavin, Armina, Kerry, Lege and Figgy
at Buddies Books and Baubles
Maybe you are like me and one of the few people who have read 14 by Peter Clines (that is a friends review attached because my review for 14 sucks) and so you too knew a little bit about the direction this book was going to go OR maybe you, like almost all my other friends on Goodreads have never even heard of 14. I’m going to say that it doesn’t matter because even having read 14 and knowing a little about where the Albuquerque Door would eventually take the story I didn’t get how it worked until it was explained and if I’d never read 14 I think I would have liked everything in this story just as much.
If you are looking for a book with some fantastic wtf-ery in it look no further The Fold should fit the bill. If you have read anything by Peter Clines before then you know he has this great blend of humor, pop-culture and J.J. Abrams-ness, yes that is a thing, to him that make his stories this colleague akin to LOST + Fringe + Ready Player One + Legion + Scooby Doo with a smidge of Sliders and it totally works.
The actual story of this is probably only a 4 star read BUT there are a few things that Peter Clines has done exceptionally well that I really loved in the story that give it an extra bonus 0.5 stars and the round up. The First is MIKE and his ants. Only Brandon Sanderson with Steven Leads in Legion has done such a great job of making the inner workings of a genius’s mind so relatable and interesting. That is high praise from me as Sanderson is my favorite Fantasy author. Our main character Mike has an identic memory but that memory becomes almost another character in the story as the ‘information black ants’ bring up pieces of memory and the ‘logic red ants’ put that information to work to come up with answers. Seriously it was such a great addition to the story and made Mike one of the most likeable and relatable geniuses I’ve read about.
The Second is the Quantum Donuts. This book has some big ideas in it that I’ve read other authors try to explain and it never goes well. Iit either gets too technical and boring and I’m dosing off somewhere or I end up feeling like ‘oh, this is one of those you’ll just have to take my word for it that’s how it works with no explaination and let’s move on.’ But Peter Cline is able to use normal everyday lingo and items to show his big ideas in an interesting way with just a piece of paper OR a box of donuts.
Reggie has a problem. He knows about one of the biggest discoveries/inventions of our time. In fact he has been funding it for years but something just isn’t quite right with the project. He needs someone to figure out what and since he is friends with one of the smartest people in the world he is hoping his good friend Mike can help him out.
The Scientist team doesn’t exactly welcome Mike with open arms but they are willing to at least let him in a little bit and let him see the Albuquerque Door in action. It is AMAZING and Reggie is right one of the greatest inventions of our time but no one seems to be able to give him the answers he is looking for and maybe the team there is hiding something. The more time Mike spends there the more he gets the impression that things aren’t as great as everyone keeps telling him.
Hmmm….or does it? Well you will have to read the book to find out because what is really happening is even more interesting than that.
Is this story for you?
If the answer to any of those above is yes then give it a try. It is different, interesting and out there but done in such a great way that from the 40% point on I couldn’t put it away.
4.5 Quantum Donut Stars
Buddy Reading with Athena (Shardbearer), Gavin, Armina, Kerry, Lege and Figgy
at Buddies Books and Baubles
Maybe you are like me and one of the few people who have read 14 by Peter Clines (that is a friends review attached because my review for 14 sucks) and so you too knew a little bit about the direction this book was going to go OR maybe you, like almost all my other friends on Goodreads have never even heard of 14. I’m going to say that it doesn’t matter because even having read 14 and knowing a little about where the Albuquerque Door would eventually take the story I didn’t get how it worked until it was explained and if I’d never read 14 I think I would have liked everything in this story just as much.
If you are looking for a book with some fantastic wtf-ery in it look no further The Fold should fit the bill. If you have read anything by Peter Clines before then you know he has this great blend of humor, pop-culture and J.J. Abrams-ness, yes that is a thing, to him that make his stories this colleague akin to LOST + Fringe + Ready Player One + Legion + Scooby Doo with a smidge of Sliders and it totally works.
The actual story of this is probably only a 4 star read BUT there are a few things that Peter Clines has done exceptionally well that I really loved in the story that give it an extra bonus 0.5 stars and the round up. The First is MIKE and his ants. Only Brandon Sanderson with Steven Leads in Legion has done such a great job of making the inner workings of a genius’s mind so relatable and interesting. That is high praise from me as Sanderson is my favorite Fantasy author. Our main character Mike has an identic memory but that memory becomes almost another character in the story as the ‘information black ants’ bring up pieces of memory and the ‘logic red ants’ put that information to work to come up with answers. Seriously it was such a great addition to the story and made Mike one of the most likeable and relatable geniuses I’ve read about.
The Second is the Quantum Donuts. This book has some big ideas in it that I’ve read other authors try to explain and it never goes well. Iit either gets too technical and boring and I’m dosing off somewhere or I end up feeling like ‘oh, this is one of those you’ll just have to take my word for it that’s how it works with no explaination and let’s move on.’ But Peter Cline is able to use normal everyday lingo and items to show his big ideas in an interesting way with just a piece of paper OR a box of donuts.
☢ The Skinny ☢
Reggie has a problem. He knows about one of the biggest discoveries/inventions of our time. In fact he has been funding it for years but something just isn’t quite right with the project. He needs someone to figure out what and since he is friends with one of the smartest people in the world he is hoping his good friend Mike can help him out.
You know when you’re in a rush and you put a T-shirt on backward? Even if there’s no tag in it, you don’t have to look in the mirror to know it’s on wrong. You can just feel it.”
“That’s all you’ve got for me?”
“It’s just wrong,” he replied with a shrug. “That’s all I can tell you. There’s something so wrong out there that you can almost feel it in the air. And you know what’s the weirdest part?”
“What?”
“I think everyone out there feels the same way.”
The Scientist team doesn’t exactly welcome Mike with open arms but they are willing to at least let him in a little bit and let him see the Albuquerque Door in action. It is AMAZING and Reggie is right one of the greatest inventions of our time but no one seems to be able to give him the answers he is looking for and maybe the team there is hiding something. The more time Mike spends there the more he gets the impression that things aren’t as great as everyone keeps telling him.
”I was saying, at one point Foghorn and the chick are playing hide-and-seek. Foghorn hides in the woodbin. Egghead looks around for a few seconds, writes out a page of mathematics, and sticks a shovel in the ground about ten feet away. Out pops Foghorn. He tries to argue that what’s just happened is impossible, and the chick keeps showing him the page of calculations.”
“And that’s what you do?”
“That’s what we do,” Arthur said. “We take over six hundred pages of math and force-feed it to the universe through an electromagnetic funnel. We tell the universe ‘I don’t care what you think. I’m lifting my foot here and putting it down there.’”
“And the universe doesn’t object?”
Arthur finished off his whiskey. “Not so far.”
Hmmm….or does it? Well you will have to read the book to find out because what is really happening is even more interesting than that.
Is this story for you?
⇝ Did you like the first seasons of LOST, Fringe or Sliders?
↝ Are you a fan of J.J. Abrams or Joss Weadon?
↱ Do you like pop culture references to Star Trek, LOST, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Warhammer, Game of Thones and more….?
➫ Do you like it when things just get weird in a story, like Twilight Zone weird?
↬ Are you a fan of a good mystery?
➻ Do you like Donuts?
➳Do you enjoy humorous banter between characters?
”Maid’s been on vacation, I see,” said Mike.
“Yeah. She ran off with the guy who writes your jokes.”
“Ouch.”
“There’s a postcard from them here somewhere. Want me to look for that instead
➠ Are you one of the few, the brave, who have already read 14?
If the answer to any of those above is yes then give it a try. It is different, interesting and out there but done in such a great way that from the 40% point on I couldn’t put it away.
September 1, 2015
Mike Erikson might be the smartest person on Earth, but he’s content to use his high IQ and eidetic memory as a small town school teacher. However, his friend Reggie is a big deal at DARPA and has been trying to hire Mike for years, and now he finally finds a job that Mike can’t resist because of its groundbreaking nature.
DARPA has been funding a top secret project called the Albuquerque Door* in which a small group of scientists have successfully been able to fold space-time so that a long distance could be traveled by a person taking a single step. The scientists claim that the Door is working perfectly but want more testing, and they have insisted on not providing any of the work behind their discovery until it’s ready to be taken public. Reggie thinks that there’s something not quite right with the project and sends Mike out to investigate in the hopes that he can use his unique talents to sniff out what’s wrong.
*(Is it just me or does an Albuquerque Door sound like the kind of thing you’d be scared to look up on Urban Dictionary at work?)
I’m tempted to say that this is like Sherlock Holmes showing up on an episode of Fringe, but Mike is a lot nicer than Sherlock and there isn’t a cow in the lab. Mike himself is one of the biggest selling points of this story because the way that his mind works is well done and fascinating in its own right. There’s also some really compelling reasons as to why he’s downplayed his gifts and stuck to being a school teacher. Putting a unique character like this in a situation with a huge scientific breakthrough and a group of people who seem to be hiding something makes for an entertaining story that eventually makes the most of its premise.
While Mike makes for a sympathetic guy that you want to root for, the scientists he deals with are a bunch of jerkfaces. The way that they act for most of the book is one of the things that irked me about it. For quite a while every question or statement that Mike makes is usually met with a hostile remark or snarky challenge even as he’s being as polite and accommodating as possible. In fact, I thought Mike was being just a little too nice because as the government guy who is determining whether their new budget will get approved, he should be throwing a little weight around instead of just eating all the crap sandwiches that get flung at him regularly.
There is an argument to be made that since Mike is essentially a rookie and that the scientists have reasons for acting this way that it makes sense for the plot. However, just the way that they respond to almost everything Mike says becomes a bit tiresome. For a bunch of people tearing a hole in the fabric of reality, there are a lot of arrogant and dismissive comments along the lines of “That’s unpossible!” even after Mike has been shown to be right time after time. Also,
Despite those irritations with the secondary characters, this is still a fun and kinda kooky sci-fi thriller with an intriguing main character that mostly delivers on the potential of its main premise. There’s an indication that this may not be the last we see of Mike, and I’ll be willing to check out more.
I’m ranking it 3 stars, but it’s more like 3.5.
Also posted at Kemper's Book Blog.
DARPA has been funding a top secret project called the Albuquerque Door* in which a small group of scientists have successfully been able to fold space-time so that a long distance could be traveled by a person taking a single step. The scientists claim that the Door is working perfectly but want more testing, and they have insisted on not providing any of the work behind their discovery until it’s ready to be taken public. Reggie thinks that there’s something not quite right with the project and sends Mike out to investigate in the hopes that he can use his unique talents to sniff out what’s wrong.
*(Is it just me or does an Albuquerque Door sound like the kind of thing you’d be scared to look up on Urban Dictionary at work?)
I’m tempted to say that this is like Sherlock Holmes showing up on an episode of Fringe, but Mike is a lot nicer than Sherlock and there isn’t a cow in the lab. Mike himself is one of the biggest selling points of this story because the way that his mind works is well done and fascinating in its own right. There’s also some really compelling reasons as to why he’s downplayed his gifts and stuck to being a school teacher. Putting a unique character like this in a situation with a huge scientific breakthrough and a group of people who seem to be hiding something makes for an entertaining story that eventually makes the most of its premise.
While Mike makes for a sympathetic guy that you want to root for, the scientists he deals with are a bunch of jerkfaces. The way that they act for most of the book is one of the things that irked me about it. For quite a while every question or statement that Mike makes is usually met with a hostile remark or snarky challenge even as he’s being as polite and accommodating as possible. In fact, I thought Mike was being just a little too nice because as the government guy who is determining whether their new budget will get approved, he should be throwing a little weight around instead of just eating all the crap sandwiches that get flung at him regularly.
There is an argument to be made that since Mike is essentially a rookie and that the scientists have reasons for acting this way that it makes sense for the plot. However, just the way that they respond to almost everything Mike says becomes a bit tiresome. For a bunch of people tearing a hole in the fabric of reality, there are a lot of arrogant and dismissive comments along the lines of “That’s unpossible!” even after Mike has been shown to be right time after time. Also,
Despite those irritations with the secondary characters, this is still a fun and kinda kooky sci-fi thriller with an intriguing main character that mostly delivers on the potential of its main premise. There’s an indication that this may not be the last we see of Mike, and I’ll be willing to check out more.
I’m ranking it 3 stars, but it’s more like 3.5.
Also posted at Kemper's Book Blog.
January 9, 2016
Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
After reading Ron 2.0’s review I had no plans on reading The Fold, but then Ed loooooooved it so I just assumed Ron 2.0 read it wrong per usual and this little baby went back on the TBR. But THEN? Then Shelby agreed with Ron 2.0 and if you are familiar with them you’ll know that never happens. I figured that meant the apocalypse was nigh and I had to make sure I had some stuff taken care of before I read it . . .
Alright so here’s the deal. Mike Erikson lives the life of an Average Joe, teaching at a small high school in New England. Mike’s brain, however, is anything but average . . .
Mike chose the simple life rather than cashing in on his smarts – but when an old friend comes asking for a favor his curiosity makes it become an offer he can’t refuse. What’s the favor? Travel across the country to find out as much as he can about a project that has been affectionately nicknamed the “Albuquerque Door” . . .
(If you don’t get that reference, you may have had a terrible childhood.)
The project (teleportation, for those of you not familiar with the “left turn” imagery above) appears to be successful, but everything other than the results have fallen under a “trade secret” umbrella and therefore have been allowed to remain under wraps. Using the little marching ants who file every minor detail away in the recesses of Mike’s brain . . . .
(Get it? Dave Matthews? Ants Marching? Hilarious!)
Combined with Mike’s easy-breezy personality, perhaps some information can be retrieved without anyone really saying much of anything.
When Mike arrives he already has assumptions of what potential problems might be discovered . . .
(My undying gratitude, Mr. Clines, for presenting a legit opportunity for me to conduct some Goldbluming.)
What he never expected to find was an invention that actually works. However, it’s only a matter of time before it becomes obvious there is something seriously off about the flux capacitor . . .
and it’s up to Mike to discover why everyone has remained so hush-hush . . .
(Spoiler Alert: The above is not a real spoiler.)
The Fold sounds pretty amazing, right? Yeah, I thought so too. And then the last 100 pages shit the bed. Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut – I still couldn’t put the dang thing down and read the whole book in a few hours and seriously got on board with the last few pages . . .
If this is on your reading list, definitely keep it there.
ARC provided by Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.
After reading Ron 2.0’s review I had no plans on reading The Fold, but then Ed loooooooved it so I just assumed Ron 2.0 read it wrong per usual and this little baby went back on the TBR. But THEN? Then Shelby agreed with Ron 2.0 and if you are familiar with them you’ll know that never happens. I figured that meant the apocalypse was nigh and I had to make sure I had some stuff taken care of before I read it . . .
Alright so here’s the deal. Mike Erikson lives the life of an Average Joe, teaching at a small high school in New England. Mike’s brain, however, is anything but average . . .
Mike chose the simple life rather than cashing in on his smarts – but when an old friend comes asking for a favor his curiosity makes it become an offer he can’t refuse. What’s the favor? Travel across the country to find out as much as he can about a project that has been affectionately nicknamed the “Albuquerque Door” . . .
(If you don’t get that reference, you may have had a terrible childhood.)
The project (teleportation, for those of you not familiar with the “left turn” imagery above) appears to be successful, but everything other than the results have fallen under a “trade secret” umbrella and therefore have been allowed to remain under wraps. Using the little marching ants who file every minor detail away in the recesses of Mike’s brain . . . .
(Get it? Dave Matthews? Ants Marching? Hilarious!)
Combined with Mike’s easy-breezy personality, perhaps some information can be retrieved without anyone really saying much of anything.
When Mike arrives he already has assumptions of what potential problems might be discovered . . .
(My undying gratitude, Mr. Clines, for presenting a legit opportunity for me to conduct some Goldbluming.)
What he never expected to find was an invention that actually works. However, it’s only a matter of time before it becomes obvious there is something seriously off about the flux capacitor . . .
and it’s up to Mike to discover why everyone has remained so hush-hush . . .
(Spoiler Alert: The above is not a real spoiler.)
The Fold sounds pretty amazing, right? Yeah, I thought so too. And then the last 100 pages shit the bed. Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut – I still couldn’t put the dang thing down and read the whole book in a few hours and seriously got on board with the last few pages . . .
If this is on your reading list, definitely keep it there.
ARC provided by Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.
November 21, 2015
The author's voice sounds like Dean Koontz and sticks pretty damn close to its SF roots until it turns into some delightfully wacky horror. I'm a creature of habit. I love horror, and anything that gives it to me is my friend.
If it's ostensibly SF before it gives me all that horror, then I'm pink as a bloody peach.
I'll get something out of the way, first. It feels like a hugely popular novel. I don't know if it is, or will be. I'm reading it because it's new SF and it's an author I've never touched before. Even if it is dumbed down a bit for an audience, at least it feels its roots. Mystery first, SF second, and then, after the first two acts are done, it transforms into Horror. I'm satisfied with the progression, but I do think it could have been a bit more complicated and long, building into a grand masterpiece of ideas far outstripping it's fundamental teleportation science roots, not that I didn't appreciate the well-crafted renewal of an old multiverse trope.
Don't get me wrong. As SF I was thoroughly captured and loved the perfect timing and progression. It always kept my undivided attention. I enjoyed the screaming telegraphs of things to come, even if they were all hamfisted and obvious.
There were, on the other hand, some points that truly surprised me and hit me in the gut with the implications and the effects. Practically all the big reveals were damn satisfying and had me repeating the words aloud. It was damn amusing.
And that's what the whole novel was: It was Damn Amusing. The characters changed by way of broad strokes and implacable effects, and Mike was way too good to be true, but hell, at least he had a pretty down-to-earth rationale for keeping a wrap on his gifts. AND I'm so relieved that it wasn't yet another tortured genius trope. So, so.
Clever tale, wonderful progression between genres that built up to big action, and likeable characters. I can't say this will ever be regarded as perfect literature for any genre, but its mixtures, clear prose, and clear characters gave us all a pretty damn slick and entertaining novel.
You know, brain candy, with mysteries, cockroaches, interdimensional portals, and multi-limbed alpha-predator horrors coming to a popular Californian town near you!
The literature equivalent of a blockbuster summer film. :)
If it's ostensibly SF before it gives me all that horror, then I'm pink as a bloody peach.
I'll get something out of the way, first. It feels like a hugely popular novel. I don't know if it is, or will be. I'm reading it because it's new SF and it's an author I've never touched before. Even if it is dumbed down a bit for an audience, at least it feels its roots. Mystery first, SF second, and then, after the first two acts are done, it transforms into Horror. I'm satisfied with the progression, but I do think it could have been a bit more complicated and long, building into a grand masterpiece of ideas far outstripping it's fundamental teleportation science roots, not that I didn't appreciate the well-crafted renewal of an old multiverse trope.
Don't get me wrong. As SF I was thoroughly captured and loved the perfect timing and progression. It always kept my undivided attention. I enjoyed the screaming telegraphs of things to come, even if they were all hamfisted and obvious.
There were, on the other hand, some points that truly surprised me and hit me in the gut with the implications and the effects. Practically all the big reveals were damn satisfying and had me repeating the words aloud. It was damn amusing.
And that's what the whole novel was: It was Damn Amusing. The characters changed by way of broad strokes and implacable effects, and Mike was way too good to be true, but hell, at least he had a pretty down-to-earth rationale for keeping a wrap on his gifts. AND I'm so relieved that it wasn't yet another tortured genius trope. So, so.
Clever tale, wonderful progression between genres that built up to big action, and likeable characters. I can't say this will ever be regarded as perfect literature for any genre, but its mixtures, clear prose, and clear characters gave us all a pretty damn slick and entertaining novel.
You know, brain candy, with mysteries, cockroaches, interdimensional portals, and multi-limbed alpha-predator horrors coming to a popular Californian town near you!
The literature equivalent of a blockbuster summer film. :)
July 27, 2022
4.0 Stars
This was an exciting science fiction thriller that hooked me from the very first chapter. The mystery was so compelling because (at least at first) I had absolutely no idea what was going on. Eventually, the clues started to come together and it was so satisfying when the clues came together in a crazy reveal.
I love the bits of science sprinkled throughout this novel which made this crazy story feel more grounded. The main character had a photographic memory, which made him a bit of a Sherlock character.
Overall, I found this one to be a very addicting read. This would be an excellent book to pick up during a reading slump. I would recommend this scifi pageturner to any fellow geeks looking for a fun, escapist read.
This was an exciting science fiction thriller that hooked me from the very first chapter. The mystery was so compelling because (at least at first) I had absolutely no idea what was going on. Eventually, the clues started to come together and it was so satisfying when the clues came together in a crazy reveal.
I love the bits of science sprinkled throughout this novel which made this crazy story feel more grounded. The main character had a photographic memory, which made him a bit of a Sherlock character.
Overall, I found this one to be a very addicting read. This would be an excellent book to pick up during a reading slump. I would recommend this scifi pageturner to any fellow geeks looking for a fun, escapist read.
December 28, 2015
The fold is another great science fiction/horror by Peter Clines. It is a stand alone novel but if you have read his previous novel "14" you will be pleasantly surprised by some merging stories and characters.
Mike Erikson likes to think of himself as a normal guy... Your average high school teacher. However he has a special ability, a eidetic memory. He is able to remember everything he has ever seen or heard, replaying it exactly like it just happened. His old friend Reggie convinces him to come and work for him, assessing a top secret project. A group of scientists and computer experts have created a doorway that "folds" time and space. Those who walk through the doorway are teleported to a matching doorway somewhere else. However, the doorway isn't quite what it seems...
I have read some reviews of this book who loved it up until the last third or so of the book, saying that it takes a strange turn and becomes unrecoverable. In some ways I tend to agree. However I suppose because I read 14 (which does the EXACT same thing) I was expecting the specific twists and turns. However I admit I preferred 14.
I enjoyed all the characters in The Fold, however they are quite a similar bunch to the characters in 14. The male main character Mike in The Fold bared some striking similarities in personality to Nate in 14, and the same for the female leading character Jamie, who was very similar to Veek. Arthur was similar to Tim, and the other secondary characters also bared similarities to their counterparts in 14. This wouldn't be so bad, except for the fact that 14's characters and storyline were superior. The endings of both were extremely similar and I just wish there was a bit more.
I loved the monsters and creatures in The Fold. They were a bit more detailed and gruesome than they were in 14 and I enjoyed that.
The romance in The Fold was a bit of a let down. I think it was just too similar to 14 because the characters were so alike... It just didn't do it for me.
Overall I enjoyed the story. The story itself I give 3.5 Stars..
However
What jacked this review up to 4 Stars?? THE NARRATOR!!! Oh my GOSH Ray Porter is a FANTASTIC narrator!!! I am so amazed how good he is! Seriously, there is a reason why he won best narrator for 2015 in the audible awards! When you listen to him, its like you are listening to 12 different people. He is so amazingly talented! I want to go out now and get everything he has ever narrated and listen to it! I am going to miss his voice now I have listened to over 20 hours of him total!
Would I recommend it?
The story? Yes it was a good read, even if it takes you in places most people didn't want to go towards the end. However the audio version was FANTASTIC despite the story, and I would recommend listening to it to anyone! I think especially those who are new to audio books and get annoyed with monotone narrators, because Ray Porter is NOT ONE!
For more reviews visit my blog:
www.booksbabiesbeing.com
Twitter
www.twitter.com/BBB_Mel
Facebook
www.facebook.com/booksbabiesbeing
Mike Erikson likes to think of himself as a normal guy... Your average high school teacher. However he has a special ability, a eidetic memory. He is able to remember everything he has ever seen or heard, replaying it exactly like it just happened. His old friend Reggie convinces him to come and work for him, assessing a top secret project. A group of scientists and computer experts have created a doorway that "folds" time and space. Those who walk through the doorway are teleported to a matching doorway somewhere else. However, the doorway isn't quite what it seems...
I have read some reviews of this book who loved it up until the last third or so of the book, saying that it takes a strange turn and becomes unrecoverable. In some ways I tend to agree. However I suppose because I read 14 (which does the EXACT same thing) I was expecting the specific twists and turns. However I admit I preferred 14.
I enjoyed all the characters in The Fold, however they are quite a similar bunch to the characters in 14. The male main character Mike in The Fold bared some striking similarities in personality to Nate in 14, and the same for the female leading character Jamie, who was very similar to Veek. Arthur was similar to Tim, and the other secondary characters also bared similarities to their counterparts in 14. This wouldn't be so bad, except for the fact that 14's characters and storyline were superior. The endings of both were extremely similar and I just wish there was a bit more.
I loved the monsters and creatures in The Fold. They were a bit more detailed and gruesome than they were in 14 and I enjoyed that.
The romance in The Fold was a bit of a let down. I think it was just too similar to 14 because the characters were so alike... It just didn't do it for me.
Overall I enjoyed the story. The story itself I give 3.5 Stars..
However
What jacked this review up to 4 Stars?? THE NARRATOR!!! Oh my GOSH Ray Porter is a FANTASTIC narrator!!! I am so amazed how good he is! Seriously, there is a reason why he won best narrator for 2015 in the audible awards! When you listen to him, its like you are listening to 12 different people. He is so amazingly talented! I want to go out now and get everything he has ever narrated and listen to it! I am going to miss his voice now I have listened to over 20 hours of him total!
Would I recommend it?
The story? Yes it was a good read, even if it takes you in places most people didn't want to go towards the end. However the audio version was FANTASTIC despite the story, and I would recommend listening to it to anyone! I think especially those who are new to audio books and get annoyed with monotone narrators, because Ray Porter is NOT ONE!
For more reviews visit my blog:
www.booksbabiesbeing.com
www.twitter.com/BBB_Mel
www.facebook.com/booksbabiesbeing
July 19, 2015
Three of my most favorite Stephen King sci-fi-esque stories include the novellas The Mist and The Langoliers and the not to be missed short story "The Jaunt" (which if you haven't read this delightful, chilling diddy yet GO DO IT NOW and thank me later). Seriously, it's awesome.
The Fold in all of its pulpy goodness, thrums along with a vibration that's very Stephen King in its approach to sci-fi and I couldn't help but be reminded of those three stories while burning through its pages. It's fun, it doesn't take itself too seriously, and the plot doesn't get too bogged down or concern itself too much with the science. For sci-fi purists, Clines approach would probably come off as lazy here -- but for me, it was just right, just enough at all the right times.
There comes a moment in the novel (you'll know when you get there) where I screamed and thought the story was heading in a very different (much desired) direction than where it eventually ends up. The horror fiend in me perpetually lusting after her next scare was okay with that though. There's still lots that will goose your adrenaline centers and get the heart racing. This is a sci-fi thriller, with the emphasis on thrill with some other "stuff" thrown in to blow your skirt up at the end. And I can't talk about that "stuff" because you know, that would make me a spoilering asshole. Let's leave all that fine spoilering to Uncle Stevie, shall we? He does it so well.
I absolutely love and cannot recommend enough Clines other book 14 which in the telling and execution falls much more on the horror end of the spectrum. The two books read extremely well side by side however, and if you read one you will absolutely have to read the other to enjoy the tuning fork resonance that Clines has set up so very nicely.
And how much did I love our main character Mike Erikson? He's the smartest guy you will ever meet with a crazy IQ score and a photographic memory -- he literally remembers everything he's ever seen or heard. Which sounds awesome when you're simply talking about replaying your favorite Marvel movie in your head while you fall asleep. Not so awesome when you have instant full sensory engaged memories of somebody's horrible death. This "talent" / "curse" should make Mike either a full-on arrogant asshole, a complete weirdo with no social skills or a combination of both, but he's neither. Mike is just a nice guy, a school teacher trying to live out his life with relative normalcy.
His supporting cast are the jerk faces and arrogant assholes almost laughably so sometimes. But they do get better and more likable as the story hits the 3/4 mark. I did shake my head at how many times the phrase "but that's impossible!" was thrown about even as they stood around this spectacular fold in space-time dimension and all these crazy incidences keep piling up on top of one another. Rather than see it as a weakness in the story though, I actually found it added some much needed comic-relief. When things are at their craziest and someone is still shouting "but that's impossible!" you really have to laugh. At least I did.
So final verdict -- a pulpy, extremely fun, page-turning sci-fi thriller that will make a most excellent addition to your summer reading.
June 4, 2015
5 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum http://bibliosanctum.com/2015/06/04/b...
The Fold is an amazing book. I couldn’t put it down, which is not something I normally write in reviews because it sounds so much like a cliché. In this case, however, it’s absolutely true and no exaggeration. This book even caused a moment of blustering indignation at one point, because it was 4:30 in the morning but it still wasn’t letting me close it up and get some sleep. And that is the story of how I finished this almost 400-page book in a little more than a day.
Needless to say, I was already feeling beyond excited when I first learned that Peter Clines was going to have a new book out this summer. I’m a big fan of the author and his genre-mashing stories and writing style, after having read his novel 14 and gobbling up every book in his Ex-Heroes series as they are released. So when The Fold finally landed in my grubby little hands, I could hardly wait to get started. What does it have in store for me, I wondered, if it wasn’t another Ex novel about the zombie apocalypse versus superheroes?
Well, my excitement only grew when I started reading and discovered that The Fold is actually kind of a “side-quel” to 14. And while the novel’s protagonist Leland “Mike” Erikson might not be a superhuman, with his powerful eidetic memory and the ability to perfectly recall anything he has ever heard or seen in his life, he may as well be. This part is really cool: Mike visually pictures all his memories as bits and pieces in his head, carried by a swarm of ants all constantly seething with information and interpretation. The ants allow him to take in the sights and sounds, and organizes them with his thoughts. He can put together graphs and statistics, even overlay them in 3D representation if he wants, all in a blink of an eye. Captain America or any movie that’s ever been made can be instantly replayed in his head whenever it pleases him, as long as he’s seen it before. Man, what I wouldn’t give to have a gift like his.
But then, there are the downsides. Mike can never forget anything, which includes bad memories. Traumatic experiences stay with him forever and with awful clarity, like they only happened five second ago. Between that and the overwhelming, all-consuming way his ants seethe and swarm when he lets them out to do their thing, I can understand why the guy just wanted to fade into obscurity and teach high school English in the-middle-of-nowhere, Maine. It’s a safe place without any great challenges to tempt the ants. It’s a place where he can just be normal.
All that changes one day, when his best friend Reggie drops in on him with a job offer, one that he knew Mike could never refuse. Out in the California desert, a team of DARPA scientists have figured out a way to transport matter in a mode that is effectively as good as teleportation. By “folding” across dimensions, their invention called the Albuquerque Door makes the difference between point A and point B almost negligible, so that the subject can simply travel across that distance with a single step. The Door works. And it’s safe. Those are facts no one can dispute. However, the scientists are refusing to go public with it for some inexplicable reason. On top of that, Reggie can’t shake the hunch that something about the project just feels wrong, so he sends Mike out there to scout things out and report back to him before the government approves funding for another year.
What follows is riveting and unique genre-mashing experience, taken to a whole new level. After all, that is what Peter Clines does best. The Fold starts off reading like a Michael Crichton novel, with 100% more pop culture and geek references. Despite its nature as a sci-fi thriller-suspense mystery, the book is surprisingly easy to enjoy without the reader feeling inundated with heavy science and tech terms – an impressive feat, considering how so much of the premise deals with topics like quantum physics or cosmological theory. Information was doled out in unobtrusive ways which often meshed neatly with the plot, like during the course of a funding review, or in casual conversations between characters over drinks at a bar.
Though the writing style isn’t anything special, the smooth flow of the prose almost makes reading this book like watching a movie. Mike is like a modern Sherlock Holmes, gathering clues with his photographic memory to build a framework of evidence to bring back to Reggie and DARPA. There’s always an air of suspense just hanging over your head, especially in the beginning when you don’t know what’s going on, and the scientists’ strange attitude towards Mike can’t be explained away by simple hostility. Even when nothing much is happening in a scene you can still feel the increasing tension and expectancy, which makes it really hard to stop (in case you’re wondering, this is how yours truly got in trouble and ended up being awake even five hours past her bedtime).
There’s a marked difference in the second half of the book, when the story take a turn for the creepy before arguably veering into horror territory. If you’ve read 14, you’ll have some idea of what I’m talking about. It actually surprised me how pleased I was to see the green cockroaches in The Fold, as that was the first hint that the two books were connected. In fact, The Fold reads a lot like 14; the two books share more than just the same world, as they are also similar in tone, style, as well as structure (though ultimately I think Clines handles the themes and pacing much better here). And just like my review of 14, I can’t really go into the second half of The Fold without giving too much away, though I will say everything reaches critical mass in a significant, explosive way.
The Fold is hands down my favorite Peter Clines book to date. It’s got everything – mystery and suspense, humor and horror, science fiction and the paranormal – all perfectly blended together with a bizarre twisty ending that will keep you saying, “Just one more page…” A fun and enjoyable read all around.
The Fold is an amazing book. I couldn’t put it down, which is not something I normally write in reviews because it sounds so much like a cliché. In this case, however, it’s absolutely true and no exaggeration. This book even caused a moment of blustering indignation at one point, because it was 4:30 in the morning but it still wasn’t letting me close it up and get some sleep. And that is the story of how I finished this almost 400-page book in a little more than a day.
Needless to say, I was already feeling beyond excited when I first learned that Peter Clines was going to have a new book out this summer. I’m a big fan of the author and his genre-mashing stories and writing style, after having read his novel 14 and gobbling up every book in his Ex-Heroes series as they are released. So when The Fold finally landed in my grubby little hands, I could hardly wait to get started. What does it have in store for me, I wondered, if it wasn’t another Ex novel about the zombie apocalypse versus superheroes?
Well, my excitement only grew when I started reading and discovered that The Fold is actually kind of a “side-quel” to 14. And while the novel’s protagonist Leland “Mike” Erikson might not be a superhuman, with his powerful eidetic memory and the ability to perfectly recall anything he has ever heard or seen in his life, he may as well be. This part is really cool: Mike visually pictures all his memories as bits and pieces in his head, carried by a swarm of ants all constantly seething with information and interpretation. The ants allow him to take in the sights and sounds, and organizes them with his thoughts. He can put together graphs and statistics, even overlay them in 3D representation if he wants, all in a blink of an eye. Captain America or any movie that’s ever been made can be instantly replayed in his head whenever it pleases him, as long as he’s seen it before. Man, what I wouldn’t give to have a gift like his.
But then, there are the downsides. Mike can never forget anything, which includes bad memories. Traumatic experiences stay with him forever and with awful clarity, like they only happened five second ago. Between that and the overwhelming, all-consuming way his ants seethe and swarm when he lets them out to do their thing, I can understand why the guy just wanted to fade into obscurity and teach high school English in the-middle-of-nowhere, Maine. It’s a safe place without any great challenges to tempt the ants. It’s a place where he can just be normal.
All that changes one day, when his best friend Reggie drops in on him with a job offer, one that he knew Mike could never refuse. Out in the California desert, a team of DARPA scientists have figured out a way to transport matter in a mode that is effectively as good as teleportation. By “folding” across dimensions, their invention called the Albuquerque Door makes the difference between point A and point B almost negligible, so that the subject can simply travel across that distance with a single step. The Door works. And it’s safe. Those are facts no one can dispute. However, the scientists are refusing to go public with it for some inexplicable reason. On top of that, Reggie can’t shake the hunch that something about the project just feels wrong, so he sends Mike out there to scout things out and report back to him before the government approves funding for another year.
What follows is riveting and unique genre-mashing experience, taken to a whole new level. After all, that is what Peter Clines does best. The Fold starts off reading like a Michael Crichton novel, with 100% more pop culture and geek references. Despite its nature as a sci-fi thriller-suspense mystery, the book is surprisingly easy to enjoy without the reader feeling inundated with heavy science and tech terms – an impressive feat, considering how so much of the premise deals with topics like quantum physics or cosmological theory. Information was doled out in unobtrusive ways which often meshed neatly with the plot, like during the course of a funding review, or in casual conversations between characters over drinks at a bar.
Though the writing style isn’t anything special, the smooth flow of the prose almost makes reading this book like watching a movie. Mike is like a modern Sherlock Holmes, gathering clues with his photographic memory to build a framework of evidence to bring back to Reggie and DARPA. There’s always an air of suspense just hanging over your head, especially in the beginning when you don’t know what’s going on, and the scientists’ strange attitude towards Mike can’t be explained away by simple hostility. Even when nothing much is happening in a scene you can still feel the increasing tension and expectancy, which makes it really hard to stop (in case you’re wondering, this is how yours truly got in trouble and ended up being awake even five hours past her bedtime).
There’s a marked difference in the second half of the book, when the story take a turn for the creepy before arguably veering into horror territory. If you’ve read 14, you’ll have some idea of what I’m talking about. It actually surprised me how pleased I was to see the green cockroaches in The Fold, as that was the first hint that the two books were connected. In fact, The Fold reads a lot like 14; the two books share more than just the same world, as they are also similar in tone, style, as well as structure (though ultimately I think Clines handles the themes and pacing much better here). And just like my review of 14, I can’t really go into the second half of The Fold without giving too much away, though I will say everything reaches critical mass in a significant, explosive way.
The Fold is hands down my favorite Peter Clines book to date. It’s got everything – mystery and suspense, humor and horror, science fiction and the paranormal – all perfectly blended together with a bizarre twisty ending that will keep you saying, “Just one more page…” A fun and enjoyable read all around.
January 21, 2016
The opening chapter is pure thriller and engaged me immediately. Then we are introduced to Mike, a likeable high school teacher who just happens to be a genius. Not only is he brilliant, but he has a photographic memory. A good friend of his from college has been trying to poach Mike to go to work for him in a hush-hush government experiment, and finally succeeds in piquing Mike's interest enough to woo him away from teaching, and sets him up in a secret testing compound.
Mike is given little information other than something seems slightly "off" with the science guys and techies there in the compound. Mike is to check things out, get a feel for what is going on, and confirm that the secret project is moving forward and worth another year of funding.
Love the premise of the story, although it ended up careening off into something that didn't work as well for me as I would have thought. It got exceedingly busy there at the end. With the exception of Mike, the characters were pretty thin. I liked Mike, despite his fixation on smiles. It's mentioned. Alot. Fake smiles, genuine smiles, practiced smiles, weak smiles, tight smiles, the ghost of a smile. Egad! Enough with the various and sundry nuances of the upturned mouth. There is work to be done here!
And so, my feelings about this novel are mixed enough to go with only three stars, a little sad for the fourth star that might have been.
Mike is given little information other than something seems slightly "off" with the science guys and techies there in the compound. Mike is to check things out, get a feel for what is going on, and confirm that the secret project is moving forward and worth another year of funding.
Love the premise of the story, although it ended up careening off into something that didn't work as well for me as I would have thought. It got exceedingly busy there at the end. With the exception of Mike, the characters were pretty thin. I liked Mike, despite his fixation on smiles. It's mentioned. Alot. Fake smiles, genuine smiles, practiced smiles, weak smiles, tight smiles, the ghost of a smile. Egad! Enough with the various and sundry nuances of the upturned mouth. There is work to be done here!
And so, my feelings about this novel are mixed enough to go with only three stars, a little sad for the fourth star that might have been.
December 12, 2015
It is difficult to review this book without spoilers, and since I hate spoilers in all forms, I will keep this short. I would say if you like Stephen King or Peter Straub, this is right in your wheelhouse.
First of all, though, this is one of the most interesting main characters I've ever seen. It's not a spoiler to say this guy has an eidetic memory. Now sure, dozens (if not hundreds) of authors have used characters with photographic memories, but I've never seen the mechanism for remembering spelled out in such clear and fascinating terms. The main character's instant recall becomes a storyteller's device for building drama and suspense. It's fantastic.
Without spoiling any of the story, here's all I can say about the rest of the book:
Seriously. This book is bananas.
First of all, though, this is one of the most interesting main characters I've ever seen. It's not a spoiler to say this guy has an eidetic memory. Now sure, dozens (if not hundreds) of authors have used characters with photographic memories, but I've never seen the mechanism for remembering spelled out in such clear and fascinating terms. The main character's instant recall becomes a storyteller's device for building drama and suspense. It's fantastic.
Without spoiling any of the story, here's all I can say about the rest of the book:
Seriously. This book is bananas.
December 13, 2018
Well...looking at my "currently reading" shelf and seeing it appears that I can keep like 20 books going at once I guess I should review a couple and get them off said shelf.
So:
This is the third book (I think) I've read by Mr. Clines and it's a great read. No doubt about it if you like fantasy or science fiction brain candy I think there's an excellent chance you'll like this one.
Now let me note that there are a couple of "minor" flaws with the book, but sheer good "storyness" (should that be "storiness"?) trumped any of that and I went the whole 5 stars.
Our hero here being possibly the most intelligent or at least one of the most intelligent people in the world (he maxed out a standard IQ test but you know, never followed up with more specialized tests) is living as a high school teacher..by choice. See he wants a more normal life but his friend who works for DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) thinks he's wasting his potential and therefore his life.
Also he can think of lots of things that Mike (our hero) could be doing to advance said friend's career...I mean what are government employed friends for?
Anyway when Mike arrives at the research project that's developing a means of matter transport... well things don't go as expected.
So, bottom line? Fast moving story with lots of twists
Like I was saying, I can recommend this one...one thing before I finish however. I hate books that end in a "more to come stay tuned" ending and then, nothing. This was a 2015 book, it's now 2017. What's with the semi-cliffhanger?
Oh well, still a good read. Enjoy.
So:
This is the third book (I think) I've read by Mr. Clines and it's a great read. No doubt about it if you like fantasy or science fiction brain candy I think there's an excellent chance you'll like this one.
Now let me note that there are a couple of "minor" flaws with the book, but sheer good "storyness" (should that be "storiness"?) trumped any of that and I went the whole 5 stars.
Our hero here being possibly the most intelligent or at least one of the most intelligent people in the world (he maxed out a standard IQ test but you know, never followed up with more specialized tests) is living as a high school teacher..by choice. See he wants a more normal life but his friend who works for DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) thinks he's wasting his potential and therefore his life.
Also he can think of lots of things that Mike (our hero) could be doing to advance said friend's career...I mean what are government employed friends for?
Anyway when Mike arrives at the research project that's developing a means of matter transport... well things don't go as expected.
So, bottom line? Fast moving story with lots of twists
Like I was saying, I can recommend this one...one thing before I finish however. I hate books that end in a "more to come stay tuned" ending and then, nothing. This was a 2015 book, it's now 2017. What's with the semi-cliffhanger?
Oh well, still a good read. Enjoy.
May 19, 2015
The Fold is my second encounter with Peter Clines after reading 14, and while I see a number of similarities between the two books I actually surprisingly liked this better.
Mike Erikson is a high school teacher living an ordinary life in an ordinary town, but when he is approached by an old friend Reggie to take a look at a new technology that is being secretly developed by DARPA scientists that would allow a person to be teleported from one place to another by taking a single step. But when he arrives and starts investigating he is met with suspicion, and when the technology starts to malfunction it becomes clear that something else going on.
There's something so wrong out there that you can almost feel it in the air.
Let's start with the good things.
The main character is interesting and well developed. There are a lot of secondary characters that aren't as well developed, but I genuinely liked the main character so that didn't matter as much. His talent was unique and I liked that Clines broke it down so that people who don't have his particular skill could almost understand what it was like to be him.
The storyline is definitely intriguing and fast paced. At no time during the book did I feel bored. Peter Clines is great at building and maintaining momentum until the very last page.
The story is very very similar to 14. Technically this could fall under either list, but if you liked 14 you will also enjoy this. Although I felt that the pacing was better in this one as 14 took a bit to get started.
Now on to the not so good things.
The last 60 pages or so literally all one character says is "Fuck". I have no problem with swear words. I am probably one of the worst offenders out there. However just hearing her repeat "Fuck me" over and over for 60 pages really got on my nerves. Hearing any book repeat the same two words over and over is enough to drive anyone batty.
Secondly there were some questionable decisions made by the main character, who is a genius. The following tag contains a MAJOR spoiler. You have been warned.
Other than that it was a solid read, and I'll keep an eye out for what Clines writes in the future.
Cross posted at Kaora's Corner.
Mike Erikson is a high school teacher living an ordinary life in an ordinary town, but when he is approached by an old friend Reggie to take a look at a new technology that is being secretly developed by DARPA scientists that would allow a person to be teleported from one place to another by taking a single step. But when he arrives and starts investigating he is met with suspicion, and when the technology starts to malfunction it becomes clear that something else going on.
There's something so wrong out there that you can almost feel it in the air.
Let's start with the good things.
The main character is interesting and well developed. There are a lot of secondary characters that aren't as well developed, but I genuinely liked the main character so that didn't matter as much. His talent was unique and I liked that Clines broke it down so that people who don't have his particular skill could almost understand what it was like to be him.
The storyline is definitely intriguing and fast paced. At no time during the book did I feel bored. Peter Clines is great at building and maintaining momentum until the very last page.
The story is very very similar to 14. Technically this could fall under either list, but if you liked 14 you will also enjoy this. Although I felt that the pacing was better in this one as 14 took a bit to get started.
Now on to the not so good things.
The last 60 pages or so literally all one character says is "Fuck". I have no problem with swear words. I am probably one of the worst offenders out there. However just hearing her repeat "Fuck me" over and over for 60 pages really got on my nerves. Hearing any book repeat the same two words over and over is enough to drive anyone batty.
Secondly there were some questionable decisions made by the main character, who is a genius. The following tag contains a MAJOR spoiler. You have been warned.
Other than that it was a solid read, and I'll keep an eye out for what Clines writes in the future.
Cross posted at Kaora's Corner.
March 7, 2020
4.5 stars.
The Fold is yet another utterly absorbing and entertaining genre-bending novel by Peter Clines, which was impeccably narrated by Ray Porter.
I didn't even realise that I've read the first book in the Threshold series, 14, almost exactly a year ago. It must be something related to this bizarre universe that Clines have created in his series of connected stand-alone novels which triggered such a coincidence. The Fold is the second book in the series, with a completely different story and new cast of characters in the same universe.
Knowing that 14 and The Fold are somewhat connected did reduce the mystery ever so slightly, but Clines still managed to create enough suspense to keep me engaged. The first chapter of the book was an instant attention grabber. And although nothing much really happened for about a third of the book, I was hooked to my earphones as Ray Porter flawlessly brought the characters and story to life. From there on, the story moved from engaging to absolutely riveting.
I warmed up to the main character, Leland "Mike" Erikson almost instantly. A genius with eidetic memory, Mike opted to be as normal as possible, working as a high-school teacher in a small town in Maine. One of his closest friends, Reggie Magnus, who worked on high-tech, secretive government projects had been trying for years to get Mike to work for him. And he finally succeeded. Mike has been tasked to monitor and report on the Albuquerque Door project. A project involving a device which can teleport anything across any distance with a single step by means of 'folding' the dimensions. Everything seemed to be working well, but somehow one can't shake off the feeling that all is not what it appeared to be. Don't worry about the science as it is very much dialed down that it can be enjoyed even by those who are disinclined towards hard science fiction.
I simply can't get enough of this blend of science-fiction, mystery and Lovecraftian horror. With 14 and The Fold, Peter Clines has earned a new fan of his Threshold series. I also hope that Ray Porter continues to narrate his books because he has the perfect cadence and timing for the kind of witty and snappy dialogue in Clines' books. Porter is also exceptional in giving his characters' distinct voices and his accents are impeccable. In short, The Fold is a compulsively addictive read, or rather listen, that kept me wanting more.
You can order the book / audiobook from: Amazon UK | Amazon US | Book Depository (Free shipping | Bookshop.Org
You can find this and my other reviews at Novel Notions.
The Fold is yet another utterly absorbing and entertaining genre-bending novel by Peter Clines, which was impeccably narrated by Ray Porter.
I didn't even realise that I've read the first book in the Threshold series, 14, almost exactly a year ago. It must be something related to this bizarre universe that Clines have created in his series of connected stand-alone novels which triggered such a coincidence. The Fold is the second book in the series, with a completely different story and new cast of characters in the same universe.
Knowing that 14 and The Fold are somewhat connected did reduce the mystery ever so slightly, but Clines still managed to create enough suspense to keep me engaged. The first chapter of the book was an instant attention grabber. And although nothing much really happened for about a third of the book, I was hooked to my earphones as Ray Porter flawlessly brought the characters and story to life. From there on, the story moved from engaging to absolutely riveting.
I warmed up to the main character, Leland "Mike" Erikson almost instantly. A genius with eidetic memory, Mike opted to be as normal as possible, working as a high-school teacher in a small town in Maine. One of his closest friends, Reggie Magnus, who worked on high-tech, secretive government projects had been trying for years to get Mike to work for him. And he finally succeeded. Mike has been tasked to monitor and report on the Albuquerque Door project. A project involving a device which can teleport anything across any distance with a single step by means of 'folding' the dimensions. Everything seemed to be working well, but somehow one can't shake off the feeling that all is not what it appeared to be. Don't worry about the science as it is very much dialed down that it can be enjoyed even by those who are disinclined towards hard science fiction.
I simply can't get enough of this blend of science-fiction, mystery and Lovecraftian horror. With 14 and The Fold, Peter Clines has earned a new fan of his Threshold series. I also hope that Ray Porter continues to narrate his books because he has the perfect cadence and timing for the kind of witty and snappy dialogue in Clines' books. Porter is also exceptional in giving his characters' distinct voices and his accents are impeccable. In short, The Fold is a compulsively addictive read, or rather listen, that kept me wanting more.
You can order the book / audiobook from: Amazon UK | Amazon US | Book Depository (Free shipping | Bookshop.Org
You can find this and my other reviews at Novel Notions.
June 7, 2015
This was a really fun read. It merged the genres of mystery, horror, sci-fi, and fantasy very well. The whole story had the feel of an episode of The Twilight Zone, which was pretty cool.
Mike Erikson is living the quiet life as a high school English teacher in a small New England town when he gets a visit from an old college friend who wants him to stop squandering his genius IQ and eidetic memory and come help evaluate a team of secretive DARPA scientists who are working on a project they claim uses a cryptic computer equation and magnetic fields to "fold" dimensions and as a result make teleportation a reality. They have it working, but for some reason are reluctant to share its secrets or move it out of the testing phase. Mike is sent in to investigate what the delay is and why no one is willing to talk about the science behind the machine!
The story proved to be very engaging and entertaining. It had plenty of mystery, humor, and a batch of cool twists. Mike proved to be a very likable guy who was uniquely skilled to lead the investigation. The rest of the characters were an interesting enough batch.
I loved reading this one. I was not bored for a single moment with the story and I loved all the pop culture references Clines managed to squeeze into the tale.
This only issue I had with this book was the ending. It was decent, but not as good as the rest of the book.
This was set in the same world as Peter Clines 14, but could easily be read as a standalone. Since I loved both books I really hope we get a few more books in this world.
Rating: 4 stars.
Audio Note: This was read by Ray Porter who did a good job.
Mike Erikson is living the quiet life as a high school English teacher in a small New England town when he gets a visit from an old college friend who wants him to stop squandering his genius IQ and eidetic memory and come help evaluate a team of secretive DARPA scientists who are working on a project they claim uses a cryptic computer equation and magnetic fields to "fold" dimensions and as a result make teleportation a reality. They have it working, but for some reason are reluctant to share its secrets or move it out of the testing phase. Mike is sent in to investigate what the delay is and why no one is willing to talk about the science behind the machine!
The story proved to be very engaging and entertaining. It had plenty of mystery, humor, and a batch of cool twists. Mike proved to be a very likable guy who was uniquely skilled to lead the investigation. The rest of the characters were an interesting enough batch.
I loved reading this one. I was not bored for a single moment with the story and I loved all the pop culture references Clines managed to squeeze into the tale.
This only issue I had with this book was the ending. It was decent, but not as good as the rest of the book.
This was set in the same world as Peter Clines 14, but could easily be read as a standalone. Since I loved both books I really hope we get a few more books in this world.
Rating: 4 stars.
Audio Note: This was read by Ray Porter who did a good job.
June 19, 2015
Buddy read with some awesome people at Buddies Books and Baubles
4 STARS
This was pretty entertaining and fast paced. It never lost its momentum. And yet something faltered in the story towards the end and I was left feeling a bit dissatisfied. Can't quite put my finger on what and why. May be it was the way too many cool/creepy ideas were thrown into the mix in the last third of the book and almost none of them reached their full potential or were developed even a bit. There are a lot of clues this may not be the last we see from this world and Mike. I really hope we'll get more answers in future books/stories. That's why I'm giving it 4 stars although they are not very strong.
Still, this is a solid sci-fi thriller with bits of horror and even a dash of romance. Highly recommended to sci-fi geeks with love for cool modern culture references. Full review may come at some point.
June 3, 2015, Pre-reading thoughts:
This is my first Clines although I have 14 on my TBR list. Having in mind the synopsis and the first impressions of my friends who have already started yesterday(yes, I'm late as usual), I have great expectations for this one.
Also, I love the audio narrator Ray Porter. Let's dive in!
July 2, 2016
I picked this book up because I didn't want to cart the hefty hardback I'm in the middle of to jury duty, and thought this slim paperback would fit nicely in my purse. It did, and once I started it, it was really difficult to put down. It's science fiction, but thank God! not as droningly sciencey as The Martian.
The first chapter is a great hook, but after that the story settles into a more sedate pace . . . for awhile. Then it picks up and really hits the gas and doesn't let up until the end. The main character, Mike, is a likable guy, and I promise it's not because he is an 11th grade English teacher (like me)! He's very laid-back and friendly, and . . . oh, yeah, he's like a supercomputer with legs. He has a crazy high IQ and an eidetic memory, which means that if his eyes see it, it's in his brain to stay. I did wonder what such a genius is doing teaching high school. Don't get me wrong--a photographic memory can be very helpful when those little scamps start trying to convince you that you never returned their paper, or you told them it was okay to copy their essay from the internet. On the other hand, there are definitely some sights and experiences that I am glad to let sink into obscurity, so I guess it's a mixed bag. Clines offers some very solid reasons for Mike's choices, so it makes sense.
Mike's longtime friend, Reggie, has been trying to entice Mike to come work for him in the government forever, but Mike has been firm in his refusals--until now. He allows himself to be talked into checking out this secret research experiment that Reggie's department has been funding. Although the experiment seems to be going well, Reggie is uneasy about it and wants Mike to see if he can nose out any hidden problems. The project is called the Albuquerque Door, and it came about during exploration into teleportation. It's not teleportation, but it's the next best thing. Everything seems to be going gangbusters, but as Mike starts to dig, he starts to discover things the project team would prefer to keep hidden. Mike is very friendly and polite to them, but most of them treat him with contempt and outright hostility. I liked that he holds his ground and does not allow their rudeness to intimidate or anger him. I also liked the unique way his extraordinary intelligence is characterized (hint: it has to do with insects). I, personally, have always struggled with absentmindedness, and am envious of people who seem to have no trouble recalling names, events, dates, numbers, etc. To me, a photographic memory seems a gift, something extremely desirable. Clines introduces us to the downside of never being able to forget anything.
I can't get into any more without giving it away, but it is definitely a page-turner. I thought the science explanations were handled well, with the meaning being made clear without beating me to death with long, detailed explanations of how things work (I'm looking at you, Andy Weir!). I found the plot to be plausible and riveting, and even the rudest characters came together eventually. I thought it was kind of convenient that
If you're looking for a thrill ride of a story, I highly recommend!
The first chapter is a great hook, but after that the story settles into a more sedate pace . . . for awhile. Then it picks up and really hits the gas and doesn't let up until the end. The main character, Mike, is a likable guy, and I promise it's not because he is an 11th grade English teacher (like me)! He's very laid-back and friendly, and . . . oh, yeah, he's like a supercomputer with legs. He has a crazy high IQ and an eidetic memory, which means that if his eyes see it, it's in his brain to stay. I did wonder what such a genius is doing teaching high school. Don't get me wrong--a photographic memory can be very helpful when those little scamps start trying to convince you that you never returned their paper, or you told them it was okay to copy their essay from the internet. On the other hand, there are definitely some sights and experiences that I am glad to let sink into obscurity, so I guess it's a mixed bag. Clines offers some very solid reasons for Mike's choices, so it makes sense.
Mike's longtime friend, Reggie, has been trying to entice Mike to come work for him in the government forever, but Mike has been firm in his refusals--until now. He allows himself to be talked into checking out this secret research experiment that Reggie's department has been funding. Although the experiment seems to be going well, Reggie is uneasy about it and wants Mike to see if he can nose out any hidden problems. The project is called the Albuquerque Door, and it came about during exploration into teleportation. It's not teleportation, but it's the next best thing. Everything seems to be going gangbusters, but as Mike starts to dig, he starts to discover things the project team would prefer to keep hidden. Mike is very friendly and polite to them, but most of them treat him with contempt and outright hostility. I liked that he holds his ground and does not allow their rudeness to intimidate or anger him. I also liked the unique way his extraordinary intelligence is characterized (hint: it has to do with insects). I, personally, have always struggled with absentmindedness, and am envious of people who seem to have no trouble recalling names, events, dates, numbers, etc. To me, a photographic memory seems a gift, something extremely desirable. Clines introduces us to the downside of never being able to forget anything.
I can't get into any more without giving it away, but it is definitely a page-turner. I thought the science explanations were handled well, with the meaning being made clear without beating me to death with long, detailed explanations of how things work (I'm looking at you, Andy Weir!). I found the plot to be plausible and riveting, and even the rudest characters came together eventually. I thought it was kind of convenient that
If you're looking for a thrill ride of a story, I highly recommend!
July 1, 2015
Well. That happened.
I received a copy of this via Netgalley and was super excited - it sounded cool and amazing and everyone was mentioning The Martian (My favourite book of 2014) in their reviews. I had to have it.
Small town genius hermit, lured into working for his friend of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA - I had to look it up) to look into a government funded invention whereby magnetism (I imagined a couple of huge MRIs) and advanced mathematics create a 'fold' - effectively changing the fabric of reality so that a single step equates to hundreds of metres.
What could possibly go wrong?
As I said, the book description sounded like it would be awesome. And, for about 80% of the story, I would have had to agree, it had all the makings of a top notch story of mystery and inter-dimensional travel. Just, what is the Fold? And, how exactly does it work? And really, what is wrong with it? Now, these questions and the process of discovery is what I enjoyed. This was going to be a five star read.
But, it was not to be. The ending nearly made me give this a 2 star rating. We went from a smart, although at times oddly written story, to .
I could not believe the direction this took. I could see how the ending would go as I was reading - Mike would be betrayed by one of the sneaky scientists, somehow become trapped in the Fold, and then have to MacGyver his way out, all the while, planning how to take over as Director of JPL. Done.
Nope.
.
I say oddly written, in that for me, the writing went from brilliant to completely pedestrian. I got to the end and read the acknowledgements, wishing that Mr Clines had had one more go of this. The love story was unnecessary and as a reader, not enjoyable. And, while at first, I liked the idea of 'ants' being used to describe the sorting and storing of images in Mike's head. By the end I was sick to death of them. . Whyyyyyyy?
I was also pretty bored of Mike by the end of it. He was like a Hipster, trying so hard to prove that they are populists, instead turning into elitists. It's not cool in Hipsters, and it's not cool in nerds. Own your brilliant brain, mate.
In the end, I gave this three stars because I CAN appreciate much of this book. I was disappointed and frustrated with the ending, but did enjoy the bulk of the novel.
Disclaimer: I admit to not having read too many of these sciency books. ¯\_(''/)_/¯ I like vampires.
Copy provided by Netgalley for an honest review.
I received a copy of this via Netgalley and was super excited - it sounded cool and amazing and everyone was mentioning The Martian (My favourite book of 2014) in their reviews. I had to have it.
Small town genius hermit, lured into working for his friend of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA - I had to look it up) to look into a government funded invention whereby magnetism (I imagined a couple of huge MRIs) and advanced mathematics create a 'fold' - effectively changing the fabric of reality so that a single step equates to hundreds of metres.
What could possibly go wrong?
As I said, the book description sounded like it would be awesome. And, for about 80% of the story, I would have had to agree, it had all the makings of a top notch story of mystery and inter-dimensional travel. Just, what is the Fold? And, how exactly does it work? And really, what is wrong with it? Now, these questions and the process of discovery is what I enjoyed. This was going to be a five star read.
But, it was not to be. The ending nearly made me give this a 2 star rating. We went from a smart, although at times oddly written story, to .
I could not believe the direction this took. I could see how the ending would go as I was reading - Mike would be betrayed by one of the sneaky scientists, somehow become trapped in the Fold, and then have to MacGyver his way out, all the while, planning how to take over as Director of JPL. Done.
Nope.
.
I say oddly written, in that for me, the writing went from brilliant to completely pedestrian. I got to the end and read the acknowledgements, wishing that Mr Clines had had one more go of this. The love story was unnecessary and as a reader, not enjoyable. And, while at first, I liked the idea of 'ants' being used to describe the sorting and storing of images in Mike's head. By the end I was sick to death of them. . Whyyyyyyy?
I was also pretty bored of Mike by the end of it. He was like a Hipster, trying so hard to prove that they are populists, instead turning into elitists. It's not cool in Hipsters, and it's not cool in nerds. Own your brilliant brain, mate.
In the end, I gave this three stars because I CAN appreciate much of this book. I was disappointed and frustrated with the ending, but did enjoy the bulk of the novel.
Disclaimer: I admit to not having read too many of these sciency books. ¯\_(''/)_/¯ I like vampires.
Copy provided by Netgalley for an honest review.
March 25, 2021
A thoroughly entertaining story about a door through space!
This only has a few things in common with the first book, 14. One thing being the green, mutated cockroaches and the other being two people from the first book show up at the very end. Oh, and I think that was a "squale" there towards the end as well.
I'm reading and/or listening to a lot of science fiction lately, but not too science-y, if that makes any sense. I'm not looking for super technical, REAL science, just entertainment. Of course having great characters like Mike, with his eidetic memory helps out a lot. (Though I am feeling like way too many authors use eidetic memory as a plot point.) At least this book looked at it from a different angle-what if you saw a violent act or witnessed someone's death? Every little second of what you saw is stored away in that memory and never, ever will it fade or be forgotten.
I liked this book, Ray Porter's narration brings it alive and I will be on to the next in the series soon.
*I bought this download with my hard earned cash, via Audible.*
This only has a few things in common with the first book, 14. One thing being the green, mutated cockroaches and the other being two people from the first book show up at the very end. Oh, and I think that was a "squale" there towards the end as well.
I'm reading and/or listening to a lot of science fiction lately, but not too science-y, if that makes any sense. I'm not looking for super technical, REAL science, just entertainment. Of course having great characters like Mike, with his eidetic memory helps out a lot. (Though I am feeling like way too many authors use eidetic memory as a plot point.) At least this book looked at it from a different angle-what if you saw a violent act or witnessed someone's death? Every little second of what you saw is stored away in that memory and never, ever will it fade or be forgotten.
I liked this book, Ray Porter's narration brings it alive and I will be on to the next in the series soon.
*I bought this download with my hard earned cash, via Audible.*
February 26, 2016
5/10
Never has a book being split in half as diversely as this for me, talk about peaks and troughs!
I was really digging the book at the beginning, even up to the half way point. I was fully invested and would easily have rated this at 4 stars. An interesting lead character, Mike, who has an eidetic memory along with a genius level IQ which could have easily come across as a dick but he's actually alright. The interesting plot with a group of scientists finding a way to travel vast distances in space and time through the “Albuquerque Door” but an underlying suspicions by the funders of the project as to the way it works which meant Mike was brought in to visit the site and be an independent auditor to see what’s going on for himself and feed back to the funders. All good at this point. Even the sciency bits were accessible for me to get on board with, dumbing down enough for even my little brain to comprehend.
Then from about the halfway point on, things just went shit. I don’t know whether it was just that I wasn’t able to come to terms with what was happening or if it was just rubbish (looking at some of my friends reviews I would say this isn’t the case) but it seriously went from a 4 star read to a 2 star read from this point on. I found myself drifting with the narrative and wasn’t all that bothered for listening to this but wanted to clear the decks before moving onto something else. I’ve avoided saying anything further due to anything I say being quite spoilerific.
The audio narration by Ray Porter was good but not great. There were a number of voices that were well done but I never felt he was a compelling storyteller. This may be a harsh judgement as it could be the story at the end which is fresh in my memory and not the enjoyment I had early on. I wouldn’t avoid listening to him again by any means.
Overall this was a disappointment. I’d read some good reviews for this and I felt it was going to be a really good read the way the first half was going only for the rug to be pulled from under my feet and leave me disappointed. A good idea with a poor execution is the best I can surmise.
If you like this try: “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes
Never has a book being split in half as diversely as this for me, talk about peaks and troughs!
I was really digging the book at the beginning, even up to the half way point. I was fully invested and would easily have rated this at 4 stars. An interesting lead character, Mike, who has an eidetic memory along with a genius level IQ which could have easily come across as a dick but he's actually alright. The interesting plot with a group of scientists finding a way to travel vast distances in space and time through the “Albuquerque Door” but an underlying suspicions by the funders of the project as to the way it works which meant Mike was brought in to visit the site and be an independent auditor to see what’s going on for himself and feed back to the funders. All good at this point. Even the sciency bits were accessible for me to get on board with, dumbing down enough for even my little brain to comprehend.
Then from about the halfway point on, things just went shit. I don’t know whether it was just that I wasn’t able to come to terms with what was happening or if it was just rubbish (looking at some of my friends reviews I would say this isn’t the case) but it seriously went from a 4 star read to a 2 star read from this point on. I found myself drifting with the narrative and wasn’t all that bothered for listening to this but wanted to clear the decks before moving onto something else. I’ve avoided saying anything further due to anything I say being quite spoilerific.
The audio narration by Ray Porter was good but not great. There were a number of voices that were well done but I never felt he was a compelling storyteller. This may be a harsh judgement as it could be the story at the end which is fresh in my memory and not the enjoyment I had early on. I wouldn’t avoid listening to him again by any means.
Overall this was a disappointment. I’d read some good reviews for this and I felt it was going to be a really good read the way the first half was going only for the rug to be pulled from under my feet and leave me disappointed. A good idea with a poor execution is the best I can surmise.
If you like this try: “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes
July 9, 2015
www.melissa413readsalot.blogspot.com
Wow! That was one trip of a book! I liked it :) I always know I like a book when I can't wait to see what's going to happen yet and I start talking out loud to the book and the stupidity of what people are doing or not doing.
I loved one of the main characters, Mike. I wish I could have his mind! I would love to have a smart, photographic memory. I would love to just have a smart brain, but I digress. I loved he was referred to as Sherlock, because who doesn't love Sherlock right? And he uses these references to ants in his head. Whatever works.
As everyone knows already, Mike is called in by his friend Reggie to go check on what these peeps are doing over at DARPA. So.. off he goes to see what's going on. They are working on a project they call the Albuquerque Door, which is a teleportation device. I'm not going to give out any spoilers on this, but lets just say, things don't go as planned.
I liked some of the characters in the book and not so much others. And of course one of the ones I like.. dies. Figures.
In the beginning I didn't like Jamie too much but she grew on me as the book went on, probably because she changed so to speak.
The story to me was out there, no pun intended this being a sci-fi book and all, and I thought it had a good storyline. I'm not sure if it matters that I didn't read the first book, but I thought this seemed to be fine was a stand alone.
With the exception of a couple of things, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and loved all of the craziness this author brought to the table! I think I might have to go back and read the first one!
I think a lot of sci-fi fans will like this book.
**I would like to thank NETGALLEY and CROWN PUBLISHING for giving me the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. **
Wow! That was one trip of a book! I liked it :) I always know I like a book when I can't wait to see what's going to happen yet and I start talking out loud to the book and the stupidity of what people are doing or not doing.
I loved one of the main characters, Mike. I wish I could have his mind! I would love to have a smart, photographic memory. I would love to just have a smart brain, but I digress. I loved he was referred to as Sherlock, because who doesn't love Sherlock right? And he uses these references to ants in his head. Whatever works.
As everyone knows already, Mike is called in by his friend Reggie to go check on what these peeps are doing over at DARPA. So.. off he goes to see what's going on. They are working on a project they call the Albuquerque Door, which is a teleportation device. I'm not going to give out any spoilers on this, but lets just say, things don't go as planned.
I liked some of the characters in the book and not so much others. And of course one of the ones I like.. dies. Figures.
In the beginning I didn't like Jamie too much but she grew on me as the book went on, probably because she changed so to speak.
The story to me was out there, no pun intended this being a sci-fi book and all, and I thought it had a good storyline. I'm not sure if it matters that I didn't read the first book, but I thought this seemed to be fine was a stand alone.
With the exception of a couple of things, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and loved all of the craziness this author brought to the table! I think I might have to go back and read the first one!
I think a lot of sci-fi fans will like this book.
**I would like to thank NETGALLEY and CROWN PUBLISHING for giving me the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. **
April 2, 2015
I received this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This was an incredibly exciting book! The first half or so was the set-up, character development, and setting the scene. It started out like a "typical" mystery, with hidden agendas, secret agents, and the like. At about the 55% mark, things took a swing, and by that, I mean a WILD swing! The tension ratcheted up with each new discovery, and there were some truly surprising twists. By the 80% point, I couldn't put the book down!
I'm also in the middle of Peter Clines' book, "14". There are some interesting ties between the two books, things that I probably wouldn't have caught if I read them months or years apart. In the Afterword of The Fold, he mentions some of them, and in an interesting comment, said that while The Fold isn't a direct sequel, it was set in the same world (or something like that, anyway). It will be interesting to see if he takes the characters developed here into true sequels (the set-up is definitely in place).
This was an incredibly exciting book! The first half or so was the set-up, character development, and setting the scene. It started out like a "typical" mystery, with hidden agendas, secret agents, and the like. At about the 55% mark, things took a swing, and by that, I mean a WILD swing! The tension ratcheted up with each new discovery, and there were some truly surprising twists. By the 80% point, I couldn't put the book down!
I'm also in the middle of Peter Clines' book, "14". There are some interesting ties between the two books, things that I probably wouldn't have caught if I read them months or years apart. In the Afterword of The Fold, he mentions some of them, and in an interesting comment, said that while The Fold isn't a direct sequel, it was set in the same world (or something like that, anyway). It will be interesting to see if he takes the characters developed here into true sequels (the set-up is definitely in place).
November 14, 2015
If something seems to be too good to be true, it probably is.
Mike Erikson, a brilliant man who happens to have an eidetic memory, just wants to live a quiet life as a school teacher in a small New England town. Both blessed and cursed with a completely inability to stop analyzing and cataloguing all things around him and a memory that will never, ever let go of anything (he can watch entire movies from memory, concentrating on every scene), he is called out of his self-imposed exile from the world by an old friend overseeing a DARPA project in the California desert, one that he thinks Mike is uniquely equipped to examine.
Mike of course asks what is it? Why should I care? You know I have resisted all your projects before he says to his long-time friend. His old friend is confident that he will be interested once he gets a taste of what the project is; something called the Albuquerque Door (and yes, it is a Bugs Bunny reference and discussed in character in the book). Essentially, the device (or series of devices), folds space, allowing the transport of matter, animals, people from one place to another as simply as throwing a baseball through an open doorway or just walking through.
At first the two parts of the Albuquerque Door connect two parts of the research facility, but theoretically they can be hundreds or even thousands of miles apart and still work.
The device has been demonstrated to work. So what’s the problem? Apparently the researchers at the facility are hiding something , something very bad, and Mike’s friend wants to find out what it is. If the device works, why won’t they go public with it? Why can’t it be expanded or even made commercially available?
More troubling still, sometimes people come through the door different. The very first chapter has a woman greeting her husband, coming home from having walked through the door. He looked and acted the same…except he doesn’t recognize his wife and insists she is an intruder, an imposter, and something has happened to his real wife though that is not in any way true.
Mike with his analytical mind (in book comparisons are made to Sherlock Holmes) and his eidetic memory is indeed uniquely qualified to uncover the mystery of what the researchers are hiding and what is happening to them. The way his mind was depicted performing some of these tasks was by Mike imagining swarms of black and red ants, pouring over data, dredging up bits of information from his mind, going to war almost over competing ideas. It was very interesting.
I don’t want to say too much more about the plot of the book other than I found it engaging and quite interesting. Even to compare it to some other works might spoil some of the surprises but I will say it compares very well indeed to other books in this sub-genre.
Once I found out that this book is a sidequel/shared universe book of another of the author’s works, _14_, I immediately started reading that particular novel and am so far enjoying it. I don’t think so far in _14_ having read _The Fold_ has spoiled anything for me; in fact the elements of the _The Fold_, as shown (however briefly) in _14_, have provided great foreshadowing and a sense of dread.
Mike Erikson, a brilliant man who happens to have an eidetic memory, just wants to live a quiet life as a school teacher in a small New England town. Both blessed and cursed with a completely inability to stop analyzing and cataloguing all things around him and a memory that will never, ever let go of anything (he can watch entire movies from memory, concentrating on every scene), he is called out of his self-imposed exile from the world by an old friend overseeing a DARPA project in the California desert, one that he thinks Mike is uniquely equipped to examine.
Mike of course asks what is it? Why should I care? You know I have resisted all your projects before he says to his long-time friend. His old friend is confident that he will be interested once he gets a taste of what the project is; something called the Albuquerque Door (and yes, it is a Bugs Bunny reference and discussed in character in the book). Essentially, the device (or series of devices), folds space, allowing the transport of matter, animals, people from one place to another as simply as throwing a baseball through an open doorway or just walking through.
At first the two parts of the Albuquerque Door connect two parts of the research facility, but theoretically they can be hundreds or even thousands of miles apart and still work.
The device has been demonstrated to work. So what’s the problem? Apparently the researchers at the facility are hiding something , something very bad, and Mike’s friend wants to find out what it is. If the device works, why won’t they go public with it? Why can’t it be expanded or even made commercially available?
More troubling still, sometimes people come through the door different. The very first chapter has a woman greeting her husband, coming home from having walked through the door. He looked and acted the same…except he doesn’t recognize his wife and insists she is an intruder, an imposter, and something has happened to his real wife though that is not in any way true.
Mike with his analytical mind (in book comparisons are made to Sherlock Holmes) and his eidetic memory is indeed uniquely qualified to uncover the mystery of what the researchers are hiding and what is happening to them. The way his mind was depicted performing some of these tasks was by Mike imagining swarms of black and red ants, pouring over data, dredging up bits of information from his mind, going to war almost over competing ideas. It was very interesting.
I don’t want to say too much more about the plot of the book other than I found it engaging and quite interesting. Even to compare it to some other works might spoil some of the surprises but I will say it compares very well indeed to other books in this sub-genre.
Once I found out that this book is a sidequel/shared universe book of another of the author’s works, _14_, I immediately started reading that particular novel and am so far enjoying it. I don’t think so far in _14_ having read _The Fold_ has spoiled anything for me; in fact the elements of the _The Fold_, as shown (however briefly) in _14_, have provided great foreshadowing and a sense of dread.
February 12, 2018
Such an amazing first half, then the author decides to thrown in his craziness again. I remember liking his other novel, 14, but also only the first half. I know Sci-Fi books can get crazy sometimes, but Clines' take on SciFi is just.... absurd. I was so engrossed listening to this that I wanted to be stuck in traffic while driving just to finish it as soon as possible. Terribly disappointed with this as it had so much potential. Maybe his next book could finally receive more than 3 stars from me. I was ready to give this 5 stars, but then the latter half deserves 1-2 stars, so you know, down to 3 stars it is.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,271 reviews