Robert J. Sawyer
Ace
Publishing March 1st, 2016
ISBN: 0425256839 (ISBN13: 9780425256831)
Experimental psychologist Jim Marchuk has developed a technique for identifying psychopaths. When the method is put to use in a court case, he testifies as an expert witness. The Prosecution brings up something from his past, and he is shocked to discover there is a period of six months in his distant past that he cannot remember.
As he begins to try to uncover what happened to him, he is reunited with his old girlfriend from that period of time, and they work together to reveal some disturbing truths about his past.
The book has two main story tracks: Figuring out Jim’s past, and a growing violent unrest sweeping across the US and Canada. While the story about Jim’s past is intriguing and suspenseful (and sounds almost plausible), the secondary one takes an odd turn solidly into science fiction. It feels like a book that should have ended with the first story, but the second is hastily tacked on to the end. It feels like a really good story that suffers from not knowing when to stop. A great suspenseful mystery, with a disappointing science fiction plot attached to the end.
JL Jamieson is a strange book nerd who writes technical documents by day, and book news, reviews, and other assorted opinions for you by night. She is working on her own fiction, and spends time making jewelry to sell at local conventions, as well as stalking the social media accounts of all your favorite writers.