by Claire North
There were two things that attracted me to this book. Firstly, the storyline. Sounds similar to the storyline of Life After Life by Kate Atkinson but with a twist. Harry August is a Kalachakra, a person who dies but then immediately starts his life over again from birth. He is also a mnemonic - he remembers everything from all his previous lives and if ever forced to be put through a 'Forgetting' (electrical impulses passed through the brain to wipe your memory and make you forget all your past lives), it will not work on him. In his eleventh life, while on his death-bed in hospital, he is visited by a 7-yr-old girl, who passes on a message which has been handed back through future centuries. The world is ending, and he can help save it.
During his next few lives, Harry uses his 'past' and 'future' knowledge, and that of his fellow kalachakras across the world who make up the Cronus Club, to track down those responsible for bringing the world to an early end, and most importantly to try to stop them. It's a fascinating book. Some of the quantum physics material had me a little overwhelmed but you get the gist of it!
The second interesting thing about the book is the author. Claire North, we are told by the publisher, is a pseudonym for an acclaimed British author who has previously published several novels, and this book is completely different from any of them. While reading it, I was frantically trying to recognise writing and storytelling patterns, and I came across one phrase which almost brought a name to my lips but I couldn't bring my brain to give it to me! So when the real author is finally revealed (which of course it will be - see J.K Rowling and Robert Galbraith), we will all either declare 'Oh of course!' or 'Well I never, I'd never have guessed'.
