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The Gone World Kindle Edition
“I promise you have never read a story like this.”—Blake Crouch, New York Times bestselling author of Dark Matter
Shannon Moss is part of a clandestine division within the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. In western Pennsylvania, 1997, she is assigned to solve the murder of a Navy SEAL's family—and to locate his vanished teenage daughter. Though she can't share the information with conventional law enforcement, Moss discovers that the missing SEAL was an astronaut aboard the spaceship U.S.S. Libra—a ship assumed lost to the currents of Deep Time. Moss knows first-hand the mental trauma of time-travel and believes the SEAL's experience with the future has triggered this violence.
Determined to find the missing girl and driven by a troubling connection from her own past, Moss travels ahead in time to explore possible versions of the future, seeking evidence to crack the present-day case. To her horror, the future reveals that it's not only the fate of a family that hinges on her work, for what she witnesses rising over time's horizon and hurtling toward the present is the Terminus: the terrifying and cataclysmic end of humanity itself.
Luminous and unsettling, The Gone World bristles with world-shattering ideas yet remains at its heart an intensely human story.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherG.P. Putnam's Sons
- Publication dateFebruary 6, 2018
- File size3382 KB
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Editorial Reviews
Review
One of BookPage's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2018
“The Gone World has already created quite a stir. . . . The book probes questions about consciousness and crime that call to mind, among others, True Detective and 12 Monkeys.”—EW.com
"I like to be freaked out and mystified simultaneously. The Gone World, a gory time-travel thriller, does both in surprising ways....Inception meets True Detective, but it also contains elements of Solaris, Interstellar, Twin Peaks, Minority Report, and even Stargate. To all this, it adds some innovative time-travel shenanigans."--The New Yorker "Page-Turner"
“The Gone World will horrify and fascinate readers in equal measure. It is also a primer on cutting-edge theories about time travel and astrophysics...Prepare to be dazzled.”—Pittsburg Post-Gazette
“This is big-idea fiction that defies genre in the best possible way. Epic and mind-bending in scope, it carries the reader through on beautifully rendered, human moments.”—Blake Crouch, author of Dark Matter and the Wayward Pines trilogy
“Time travel is a classic science fiction plot element, but it’s rarely used so well as in Tom Sweterlitsch’s The Gone World… Proof that superb world building isn’t only the domain of extensive series.”--The A.V. Club, "Best Books of 2018"
“In a word: Whoa! Edge-of-your-seat crime fiction that bends both time and mind.”—Sylvain Neuvel, author of Sleeping Giants
“The Gone World … is going to blow readers away. . . .[Sweterlitsch’s] ingenious apocalyptic thriller weaves a spell of rapture within each carefully composed page burnished with shimmering prose.” —Syfy Wire
"A complicated, dazzling novel that keeps the reader hooked until the last pages… In many ways, it feels like it blends the supernatural and cosmic elements from True Detective, and the alternate universe elements of Fringe.” —The Verge
“Another visionary blend of science fiction and mystery.”—Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
“As if [The Gone World did not have] a thrilling enough premise, Sweterlitsch stirs an intriguing end-of-the-world scenario into the mix... How the murder inquiry and the enigma of the terminal event are linked is just one of the many enjoyable aspects of this dark, page-turning SF thriller; another is the character of Moss... She is a resilient, vulnerable, and likable protagonist.” —The Guardian
“A fascinating blend that doesn’t skimp on the criminal investigation or the [sci fi]...Describing much more than [the] simple setup would rob the reader of the trippy experience of navigating the time-travel intricacies of this nail-biting speculative thriller.”—Library Journal (starred review)
“Sweterlitsch has crafted a powerful and compelling protagonist in Shannon Moss. . . The Gone World displays the mesmerizing power of rich speculative fiction, which drives the investigation forward (and backward) in time. Transporting readers to increasingly hostile timelines, Sweterlitsch delivers visceral and unflinching action in this dynamic merger of murder mystery and futuristic vision.” —BookPage
“A mind-blowing fusion of science fiction, thriller, existential horror, and apocalyptic fiction...The power of this novel is two-fold: Sweterlitsch’s intricately plotted storyline will keep readers on the edges of their seats until the very last pages, and his extended use of bleak imagery coupled with his lyrical writing style make for an intense and unforgettable read.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Sweterlitsch offers a highly engaging—and deeply human—story informed by hard science and a refreshing sensitivity to trauma and disability. . .The Gone World is as unsettling as it is unforgettable.” —ShelfAwareness
"Billed as Inception meets True Detective, this scifi thriller follows a secret agent within the NCIS as she investigates a strange murder and a related missing-person case that ... could possibly bring about the end of life as we know it." —Io9
“An engrossing literary mashup of crime fiction and mind-blowing science fiction. . . There is endless invention in this novel. Sweterlitsch touches upon alternate realities, time travel, advanced technologies, and even Philip K. Dick-inspired notions of pre-crime warrants. . . This is marvelous stuff! . . . Highly recommended.”—The Missourian
“Sweterlitsch follows his futuristic, cyberpunk thriller Tomorrow and Tomorrow with a complex mystery involving time travel, alternate possibilities, murder, terrorism, and one woman’s determination to prevent the end of time. . . For hard-core science-fiction fans.” —Booklist
“Amazing. . . combines science fiction and thriller with classic crime noir, time travel, existentialism, philosophy, religion and end-of-the-world scenarios, all strung together in the style of the best literary fiction you will find out there today....Tom Sweterlitsch has created an all-time original story that is both genre-breaking and trendsetting.”—Bookreporter.com
“At once futuristic, nightmarish and hard-boiled. Once again Sweterlitsch takes readers to another world and back again. Take the trip.”—Stewart O'Nan
“Compelling...The multiple futures and the contemporary setting showcase world-building at its finest, while the characterizations are thought provoking and grittily realistic...A page-turner from beginning to end!”—RT Book Reviews
“[An] investigation into the gruesome murder of a Navy SEAL’s family takes some science fictional turns. . . Sweterlitsch juggles all of these balls masterfully. His Moss feels fully realized and the plot is propulsive.” —Locus Magazine
“Thought-provoking and entertaining in equal measure. The way the future is presented, as one possibility of many, is good, solid theory and the author describes it in remarkable clarity. . . The character of Moss shines through.” —SF Book Reviews
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Hello?"
"Special Agent Shannon Moss?"
She didn't recognize the man's voice, though she recognized the drawl on the vowels. He'd grown up around here, West Virginia, or Pennsylvania-rural.
"This is Moss," she said.
"A family's been killed." A quaver in his voice. "Washington County dispatch logged the 911 a little after midnight. There's a missing girl."
Two a.m., but the news was like an ice bath. She was fully awake now.
"Who am I speaking with?"
"Special Agent Philip Nestor," he said. "FBI."
She turned on her bedside lamp. Cream-colored wallpaper patterned with vines and cornflower-blue roses covered her bedroom walls. She traced the lines with her eyes, thinking.
"Why my involvement?" she asked.
"My understanding's that our SAC communicated with HQ and they instructed him to involve you," said Nestor. "They want NCIS assistance. Our primary is a Navy SEAL."
"Where?"
"Canonsburg, on a street called Cricketwood Court, just off Hunter's Creek," he said.
"Hunting Creek."
She knew Hunting Creek, Cricketwood Court-her best friend growing up had lived on that street, Courtney Gimm. The image of Courtney's face floated from Moss's memory like ice surfacing through water.
"How many victims are we dealing with?"
"Triple homicide," said Nestor. "It's bad. I've never-"
"Slow down."
"I'd seen some kids hit by a train once, but nothing like this," he said.
"Okay," said Moss. "You said the call came in after midnight?"
"A little later," said Nestor. "A neighbor heard commotion, finally called the police-"
"Do you have someone speaking with the neighbor?"
"One of our guys is with her now," he said.
"I'll make it there in a little over an hour."
She gained her equilibrium before attempting to stand-her right leg still the lean, muscled leg of an athlete, but her left terminated in a conical mid-thigh stump, the end muscle and flesh there wrapped like a fold-over pastry. She'd lost her leg years ago when she'd been crucified in the deep winter of the Terminus-a transfemoral amputation, the Navy surgeons having cut away the part of her that had gone gangrenous. When she stood, she perched on her single foot like a long-legged shore bird, rocking on the pads of her toes for balance. Her crutches were within reach, Lofstrand crutches she kept propped in the gap between her bed and nightstand. She slipped her forearms through the cuffs and gripped the handles, propelling herself through her bedroom, a cluttered mess of clothes and magazines, loose CDs, empty jewel cases-slipping hazards her occupational therapist had warned her against.
Cricketwood Court . . .
A shiver passed over Moss at the thought of returning. She and Courtney had been like sisters through middle school, freshman year-closer than sisters, inseparable. Moss's memories of Courtney were the sweetest essence of childhood summers-endless days spent poolside, roller coasters at Kennywood, splitting cigarettes down by Chartiers Creek. Courtney had died their sophomore year, murdered in a parking lot for the few dollars she'd had in her purse.
Headline News on the bedroom set while she dressed. She applied antiperspirant to her residual limb, then nestled her polyurethane liner against the blunt edge of her thigh, rolling it to her hip as if she were rolling on a nylon stocking. She smoothed the rubbery sleeve of any air bubbles that might have accrued against her skin. The prosthesis was an Ottobock C-Leg, a prototype-a computerized prosthesis originally designed for wounded soldiers. Moss slid her thigh into the socket and stood, the volume of her thigh forcing out air from the carbon cuff, vacuum-sealing the prosthesis. The C-Leg made her feel as if her skeleton were exposed-a steel shank instead of a shin. She wore slacks, a blouse the color of pearls. She holstered her service weapon. She wore a tailored suede jacket. A last glance at television: Dolly skulking in her hay-strewn pen, Clinton touting the newly signed human-cloning ban, promos for the NBA on NBC, Jordan versus Ewing.
Cricketwood Court was a cul-de-sac, sirens flaring against row houses and lawns. A quarter after 3:00 a.m., neighbors would know something had happened, but they might not know what yet-if they peered from their windows they would find a confusion of patrol units, sheriffÕs cars and Canonsburg PD, state police cruisers, investigations a web of jurisdiction by the time federal agents were involved. MossÕs cases tended to concern Naval Space Command sailors home on shore leave from ÒDeep Waters,Ó the black-ops missions to Deep Space and Deep Time. Bar fights, domestic violence, drug charges, homicides. She had worked cases where NSC sailors had snapped and beaten their wives or girlfriends to death-tragic occurrences, some sailors spiraling after seeing the terrors of the Terminus or the light of alien suns. She wondered what she would find here. The county coronerÕs van was parked nearby. Ambulances and fire engines idled. The FBI mobile crime lab had backed over the berm into the front lawn of her old friendÕs house.
"Jesus Christ . . ."
The house Moss remembered from her childhood was as if superimposed over the house as it stood-two films playing concurrently, a memory and a crime scene. Courtney's family had long since moved from here, and Moss never thought she would set foot within her old friend's house again, certainly not under these circumstances. A two-story end unit, the other houses in its row lined up like mirror reflections, each with a driveway, a petite garage, each front stoop lit by a single porch light, the faades identical down the line, brick topped by white vinyl. Growing up, Moss had spent more time here than at her own house, it seemed-she still remembered the Gimms' old phone number. An oily sensation of one reality oozing into another, like a yolk pouring through a crack in its shell. She took a swig of coffee from her thermos and rubbed her eyes as if to wake herself, to convince herself that this coincidence of houses was real, that she wasn't caught dreaming. A coincidence, she told herself. There used to be a flowering dogwood in the front yard that had since been hacked down.
Moss slowed her pickup at a sheriff's blockade, and a deputy approached her window, a middle-aged gut and Chaplinesque mustache that would have been humorous except for the weariness weighing in his eyes. He tried to get her to turn her truck around until she rolled down her window and showed identification.
"What is that?" he asked.
"Naval Criminal Investigative Service," she said, accustomed to explaining her agency's initials. "Federal agent. We're interested in a possible military connection. How bad is it?"
"My buddy was in there earlier and told me this is the worst he's ever seen, just the goddamned worst," he said, his breath stale with coffee. "Says there's not much left of them."
"Reporters been around?"
"Not yet," he said. "We were told some news vans are on their way down from Pittsburgh. I don't think they know what they'll find. Quiet otherwise. Come on through."
A lace of police tape cordoned off the lawn and driveway, stretching from a lamppost and looping around the house's wrought-iron stoop railing. Some of the forensic technicians huddled near the garage, a smoke break. They watched Moss approach without the casual chauvinism or bald stares she sometimes encountered at scenes-their eyes were haunted tonight, glancing her way as if they pitied her for what she was about to endure.
The doorway was draped with a plastic tarp, but the smells of the house assaulted her once she ducked through, the cloying tang of blood and bright rot and shit mingled with chemical stenches of the techs' solutions, the collection kits and ethanol. The odors seeped into her, a metallic tinge from the blood, her saliva immediately coppery as if she'd sucked on pennies. Criminalists in Tyvek crowded the foyer, busy with evidence preservation, photography. A nervous anticipation roiled Moss in the moments before her first view of a new crime scene; once she turned the corner and saw what she was dealing with, however, her nervousness dissipated, replaced by an urgent and sorrowful compulsion to reassemble the broken pieces as quickly as possible.
A boy and a woman lay on the floor, their faces smeared away in a mince of brain and blood and whorls of bone. Flannel pants on the boy, a jersey for a nightshirt-ten or eleven years old, Moss guessed. The woman's nightgown was filthy with blood, her bare legs shading to plum where lividity had discolored her. Both had voided their bowels, the floor so sopped that shit and standing blood had pooled in the uneven runnels of the carpeting. The odors gagged her. The smells of the boy and his mother degraded them, she thought, their humanity debased by sewage stink and formlessness.
Moss had long ago learned the dissociative technique of viewing bodies through different lenses, divorcing the mutilation as much as possible from the personalities they once were-seeing her colleagues around her through the lens of humanity, seeing the bodies through the lens of forensics. Moss objectified the corpses. The kill stroke for the woman had been one of two blows to her head, either to her left zygomatic or to the parietal on the same side. The woman's left pupil had dilated to a wide black saucer. Moss noticed that the boy's fingernails had been removed, all of them. And his toenails, too, it looked like. She checked the woman and found that her nails had been removed as well. Someone-a man, no doubt-had killed these people, then knelt in the gore to pluck their nails from them. Or had he taken their nails before he'd killed them? Why had he done that? One of the technicians ran lengths of thread from the blood spatter on the ceiling and walls, creating a web of thread that delineated an area of convergence-it looked like the victims had been on their knees when they were struck, an execution. The room they had died in was bland, tasteless-nothing like the room Moss had once known, the comfortable, cavelike rec room kept by her best friend's family. Oatmeal tones now, track lighting. Nothing on the walls, no artwork, no photographs; the room didn't look lived in, it looked staged for resale.
"Shannon Moss?"
One of the men in Tyvek had paused in his work. Bloodshot eyes, nearly crimson, his dark skin ashen, VapoRub daubed beneath his nostrils in twin greasy streaks.
"Special agent, NCIS," she said.
He crossed the living room on stainless-steel risers the investigators used like stepping-stones over the blood. He chewed gum, said, "William Brock, Special Agent in Charge. Let's talk."
Brock led her through the narrow kitchen, the few men gathered there no longer wearing their Tyvek, their shirts and ties rumpled from hours of work, their faces wan with sleeplessness. Brock, however, seemed tireless-like he would charge bullish until this killer was caught. Angry, almost scowling as he led Moss, as if personally offended by what had happened here. He was sizeable, his voice a resonant baritone in a room of hushed voices.
"Right through here, in this little den," he said, pulling aside the flimsy accordion door of a room that branched off from the kitchen.
The rest of the house had been soullessly updated over the years, but the den remained unchanged, seemingly untouched since Moss had seen it last. The effect was unnerving-like this little patch had been forgotten when the rest of time had passed on. Faux-wood paneling, a gaudy light fixture that cast the room in amber. Even the particleboard desk and metal filing cabinets were similar, if not the same pieces left over. Courtney had once found a stash of letters in one of those cabinets that her parents had written as they were divorcing. The girls had sat on the front stoop and read them aloud to each other-Moss struck by how earnest, how almost childish a grown man's letters to his wife could be, nothing different from high-school breakup letters, she'd thought, no difference at all. Nothing changes. The human heart doesn't age.
"Do we have pictures of the victims?" asked Moss. "Anything recent? It's impossible to tell what they might have looked like."
"We have some albums," said Brock. "Fotomat receipts and negatives. We'll get them to you once they're developed. Have you had a chance to see the entire scene? Upstairs?"
"I'll need to see upstairs," said Moss.
Brock folded closed the accordion door. "I need to talk with you, clear up a few things," he said, taking a seat behind the particleboard desk. "The FBI's deputy director called me in the middle of the night, pulled me from bed. I don't receive calls from him on a regular basis. He told me there's a federal crime scene in Canonsburg, told me to lock it down."
"But that's not all he told you," said Moss.
Brock bared his teeth-meant to be a smile, an easing, but it looked like a pained expression. He wadded his gum into its silvery wrapper, replaced it with a fresh black stick. Licorice wafting on a cloud of breath. Moss noticed tooth marks on his pencil-maybe he'd quit smoking, she thought, or was trying to. Early forties, maybe mid-forties, muscular-a regular at the gym, she figured. She imagined him sparring, a boxer. She imagined him running miles on treadmills in empty exercise rooms.
"I'm struggling to understand what the deputy director told me," said Brock. "To wrap my mind around what we've found here. He briefed me on a Special Access Program called 'Deep Waters.'" Brock spoke the words like an incantation, a shadow of fear passing over his eyes. "A Navy program-a black project. He said our primary suspect, a SEAL named Patrick Mursult, is connected with the Deep Waters program, part of the Naval Space Command. He said to include Shannon Moss in the investigation."
The scope of the possible world had opened for this man just a few hours ago, thought Moss, seeing Brock struggle to believe the unbelievable. He'd been brought into the secrecy of Deep Waters-but how much had he been trusted with? Moss remembered her first dreamlike glimpse of sunlight glaring off the hulls of the NSC fleet in space, like a spill of diamonds on black velvet-a sublimity few other people have witnessed. She imagined Brock taking the phone call at home, imagined him sitting on the edge of his bed listening to his superior describe what must have sounded like miracles.
"Mursult was . . . some kind of astronaut," said Brock, his jaw grinding his licorice. "Deep Space-I understand deep space, I can understand we've been farther in the solar system than has been reported, but I don't understand how. Quantum foam-"
Product details
- ASIN : B0722TJN5P
- Publisher : G.P. Putnam's Sons (February 6, 2018)
- Publication date : February 6, 2018
- Language : English
- File size : 3382 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 399 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #64,172 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #192 in Time Travel Science Fiction (Kindle Store)
- #481 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction
- #753 in Science Fiction Adventure
- Customer Reviews:
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Customers find the book amazing, and say it gets better with each read. They praise the characters as well-written and relatable. Readers describe the concept as imaginative and unique. They also appreciate the unique take on time travel. In addition, they describe the book as entertaining, engaging, and fun. Readers mention the plot is complex, intricate, and confusing. Opinions are mixed on the plot, with some finding it clever and interesting, while others say it lacks clarity.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the book amazing, a true masterpiece, and a real page-turner. They say it gets better with each read and is worth it in every way. Readers also mention the author does a great job developing and following his rules.
"...The Gone World is a fantastic read from the first page to the last." Read more
"...it (clearer on the second read, I admit), but ultimately incredibly satisfying...." Read more
"It’s a good book. I can definitely see this turning into a Hollywood movie at some point. It’s an easy read." Read more
"...The author does a great job developing and following his rules...." Read more
Customers find the characters well-written, polished, and interesting. They also appreciate the strong female character.
"...The main character is a great lead with plenty of agency and she certainly goes through the ringer...." Read more
"...Character development was complex as the protagonist, Special Agent Shannon Moss, moved between several different time lines...." Read more
"...All the characters are well written in this book, all very polished...." Read more
"...that I liked the protagonist and the author does a fine job of fleshing out her character...." Read more
Customers find the concept cool, imaginative, and unique. They also appreciate the mind-bending concepts and cross-genre blend.
"...The Gone World is an ocean ever-teeming with interesting ideas and unique spins on familiar sci-fi concepts...." Read more
"...The ending was great to see and leaves you with plenty of thinking to do after the fact." Read more
"It's an interesting concept in which a lot of the details and questions are left unanswered. (spoilers ahead)..." Read more
"...Furthermore, there’s lots of really cool concepts and attention to detail that is pretty rad...." Read more
Customers find the book's time travel unique and tight-wound. They describe it as a well-written, fast-paced, and fun read. Readers also appreciate the vision of space-time and personality development.
"...'s The Gone World, is, in my opinion, one of the most brilliant interpretations of time travel that I have read to date...." Read more
"Gripping at times with a really original take on time travel with the personal consequences explored...." Read more
"What a story. Powerful visuals, well-written. Interesting take on dimensions and time travel...." Read more
"An extremely ambitious book, which is part classic time travel novel, part crime thriller, part apocalypse, and part horror story, with plenty of..." Read more
Customers find the book very entertaining, engaging, and fun. They describe it as original, exciting, and gory. Readers also appreciate the genre mash-up.
"...got a little too dense for me to untangle, but I enjoyed the ride and genre mash-up. Would make a fantastic miniseries or TV show." Read more
"Nonspecific minor spoilers.I feel that this book was most enjoyable for the different sci-fi concepts it explores: time-travel to the..." Read more
"...disappointed, but it was a small price to pay for this truly enjoyable page turner." Read more
"...It’s also extremely gripping, and really becomes more exhilarating as the story progresses. I also loved the characters, they had some real depth...." Read more
Customers find the book complex, intricately detailed, and confusing. They say it's a science fiction book that is fully described.
"...The Gone World weaves an intricate, smart, and dark science thriller plot that will hold your attention from the beginning to the end, or until the..." Read more
"...Never slow, but fully described. Would like to read more from this author." Read more
"...I found the story and characters interesting and complex. Mostly a riveting story line...." Read more
"...this book a 4/5 star rating would be because I had a hard time following at some points...." Read more
Customers find the plot clever, interesting, and compelling. They say it's a great detective story. However, some readers feel the epilogue is nonsensically tossed in and repetitive.
"...The Gone World weaves an intricate, smart, and dark science thriller plot that will hold your attention from the beginning to the end, or until the..." Read more
"...is an ocean ever-teeming with interesting ideas and unique spins on familiar sci-fi concepts. Such as time travel treated like Schrodinger's Cat...." Read more
"...first half or so of the book is actually a pretty interesting and compelling story that is completely ruined by a rushed and nonsensical climax and..." Read more
"...No gratuitous sex but some very rough violence and few “F” bombs.Understanding Time, the fourth dimension, can be a daunting task...." Read more
Customers have mixed opinions about the writing quality of the book. Some mention it's well-written, masterfully told, and an easy read. Others say it gets confusing in the last 100 pages and doesn't make much sense. They also mention some details are not totally clear.
"Great story, masterfully told. Couldn’t put it down" Read more
"...Unfortunately the plot, even if it is very suspenseful, does not make a lot of sense, the last 100 pages or so go completely out of tracks, and it..." Read more
"...The writing is fine but nothing extremely memorable in terms of style...." Read more
"Well paced, well written from the perspective of a detective solving a crime while the world around her ends. Never slow, but fully described...." Read more
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Open the cover to The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch, and this is the immersive, dark, and foreboding World you enter—and I loved every page-turning word of it.
The Gone World weaves an intricate, smart, and dark science thriller plot that will hold your attention from the beginning to the end, or until the Terminus arrives—an end-all for humanity event—if you will.
Journey, along with Shannon Moss, a heroine, is looking to solve a murder while trying not to end the end world in the process.
Moss engages in a time travel mission with the task of preventing the Terminus. This apocalyptic event stands to end humanity while she is also attempting to solve a crime. Depending on what she does along the way, she might bring the Terminus closer or further away, and she might save one life but risk losing all life to the Terminus.
Time travel novels can be complicated, yes. Still, this one avoids the convolution of most time travel mechanisms with smart plotting and drawing upon just-beyond-plausible science, which I love in particular about The Gone World. It makes sense insofar that quantum science points to a solution for time travel—if that makes any sense at all—and The Gone World darkly has fun with how that might play out for humanity.
The Gone World renders a complicated version of time that changes what we know about the timeline we experience. I liked that there is one you, but there could be copies of you living in other people’s versions—the continuum of time. If something happened to that real person in their time, you had better hope you are not a copy of yourself.
Space-time relativity and the natural propensity of governmental bodies to hide and advance technology for our protection and their power—at the expense of humanity—yeah, there is a fair bit of that too.
The Gone World is one of the best science fiction reads I encountered in some time (pun intended). It brings a complex intelligence to the table, where the future is what we make of it—if we don’t blow it all up by inviting an alien intelligence to our World to end it all.
The Gone World is a fantastic read from the first page to the last.
In short, The Gone World is a hauntingly bleak story that follows Special Agent Shannon Moss in the wake of the murder of the Mursult family and the search for Marian, the missing, potentially still alive, Mursult daughter.
The story is backdropped by the impending end of humanity—the Terminus, a white hole that will poison and destroy life.
To solve the mystery of the Mursult murders and find Marian, Shannon must travel to possible futures to find clues. But with each travel, the arrival of the Terminus draws closer.
That gives the book an underlying sense of dread, that doom is inevitable. Yet, despite humanity's looming end, Shannon refuses to give up on Marian.
The Gone World is rife with religious symbolism, posing a relentlessly bleak interpretation of eternal life—a splotch of luminous white light that brings about crucifixions and turns blood to silver, like water to wine.
The first half of this book reminded me of a movie I love, Another Earth. A story also shadowed by a fantastical event—the arrival of another Earth in the solar system. But the core of the story is two people coming together to grieve tragedies. A human tale outlined by a world-breaking event.
Then, The Gone World crosses the mid-story point. Marian is found, and she's dead. After, the story dives deeper into the events orbiting Marian's case; the Terminus—what it is, where it's from, and the eventual quest to prevent it.
The Gone World is an ocean ever-teeming with interesting ideas and unique spins on familiar sci-fi concepts. Such as time travel treated like Schrodinger's Cat. When a future is viewed, it is present and real, but when the traveler returns to the prime timeline, Terra Firma, that future becomes one possibility in an infinite sea of possibilities. Or the Vardogger tree--a place where time loops and travels to alternate realities are possible.
Tom Sweterlitsch's sublime prose and iron-willed characterization of Shannon Moss were the highlights for me. She felt real, fallible, and there was never a moment when I wasn't rooting for her.
The first half of The Gone World was shaping up to be a sure-fire entry into my all-time top 10, but as the story expanded, it left me wanting more of the first half. Though the book ventures to territories I wasn't quite looking for, it remains interesting and gripping. The pace never slows, and the intrigue never falters.
Overall, I give the book a 4/5. It's filled with jaw-dropping moments and clever concepts. It's a story that draws you and, like Shannon, refuses to let you go.