My First Review: The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch

Time Travel. Alternate Universes. Alternate Futures. And the end of the world.

Synopsis from Goodreads, spoiler free review following:

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 teenage daughter, who has disappeared. 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 darkest 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 or insight that will 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.

Published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons

4 Stars

I received an ARC of this book from Penguin First Reads. (You should sign up! It’s pretty cool!) The Gone World comes out February 6, 2018.

First, let me talk about what I loved. I loved the unique take on time travel! You can only time travel into the future, but once you leave, that future ceases to exist! I have read a lot of Sci-fi, but I’m going to admit that this was a way more Science-y book than I usually read, but I loved the story. It was highly engaging, never once did I get bored. It is very rare when a book leaves me thinking deeply/ feeling deeply. There were a lot of elements to it that left me going, what the heck did I just read?! Not in a bad way by any means. It was just that different. Trust me when I say the Synopsis does not do this book justice. There are very surprising twists and turns that happen. Like, there a quite a few mind blowing moments. I can’t even really explain to you without giving the plot away! And holy cow batman, I want this to be a movie so badly! (It was optioned for one; we’ll see what happens!)

Now on to characters. I thought they were really well written. The author did a really good job trying to feel out what different people would do in certain situations. What was really fascinating is how different characters react to the same situation, but in different futures. As in they chose different paths that led up to the same situation resulting in different reactions. Like I said, extremely fascinating! The main character, Shannon Moss, I felt, was surprisingly relatable. I mean, she went through hell, several times, wanted to give up, but chose to keep going. I like that. I feel as though many people in life should take a page out of Moss’ book. Just saying.

Okay, the reason this book got 4 stars and not 5. I found the weird mix of Viking mythology and Christianity an odd pairing. I am a Christian, and I don’t think the author knew exactly what he was talking about when he added Christian components to his book. It was really only one character who talked about God, but he was very poorly informed. I am just afraid people will look at this book and think that’s what Christians believe about certain things. However, I almost gave this book 3.5 stars but changed my mind. I thought that people might read this book and start thinking about their future and the future of humanity. And I think that’s a great thing to think about! So, in that regard, I liked that the author makes you think about the future! No, don’t worry, I don’t always put “Christian comments” in my reviews. Only if the book itself brings up Christianity.

Let me also say that this was a very gruesome book. There were a lot of very in depth murder scenes. I don’t have a problem with that but I just thought I should warn you that this is not for the faint of heart… or should I say stomach.

If you like Sci-Fi, futuristic, time travel, alternate universes, type of thing, you will love this book!

Let me end with it is really hard not to talk about all those crazy what the heck moments!

Thank you to Penguin First Reads!

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