Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

Jason lives with his wife Daniela and teenage son Charlie in Chicago. They're a happy family. They might have regrets at some life choices they made, just like any other couple, but they've lived with their choices and happy with the outcome. One evening Jason makes the choice to go for a drink with his friend Ryan, promising his wife and son to buy ice cream on the way home. He never makes it home, and he may never see his wife and son again. He is kidnapped and drugged, and when he comes around, he is lying on the floor of a hangar with a man who seemingly knows him, but who Jason has never met in his life. So begins a horrifying journey for Jason who slowly realises he is living in a nightmare world which he recognises, but which he doesn't belong in. As he learns the truth about where he is and how he's got here, he has the almost impossible task of trying to get back to his real life with his wife and son.

This is a thrilling and suspenseful story about choices in life, a muli-dimensional existence, the paths we take, and the decisions we make. This is not the first time I have read this subject matter in a book, but Blake Crouch pulls you in, and carries you through to the end on a terrifying but thought provoking ride.

Boy in the Tower by Polly Ho-Yen

Boy in the Tower
by Polly Ho-Yen

Ade (pronounced Addee) lives in a high rise block of flats with his mum in South London. He goes to the local school where he is friends with Gaia who lives in the high rise opposite. One day his mum comes home crying with a bruised and battered face and refuses to tell Ade what has happened. After that, she becomes withdrawn and asks Ade to do the shopping and the cooking, while she sleeps all day and night. Ade takes comfort in looking out of the window at life passing him by outside and down below. Then strange things start to happen in the area. A pub nearby collapses to the ground, then building workers and policemen fall down dead, and slowly all the high rise flats and houses in the town fall down, killing all those trapped inside. Many people flee the area, but still Ade's mum refuses to leave the flat. What is causing the buildings to fall, and how will Ade and his mum manage to survive? The tables are turned as a young teenage son is having to care for his mother while all around them the world is changing and disaster is creeping upon them.

This is a wonderful story of courage, determination, strength and bravery. The storytelling is simplistic but addictive, making you want to read straight from one chapter to the next.

If you like this, I also recommend P.O.D. by Stephen Wallenfels.

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
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'.

The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey

The Girl With All The Gifts
by M.R. Carey

I read a profile on the author in the book trade Bookseller magazine recently, and in it it talked about his new book. I was intrigued. I requested the book. I was hooked from start to finish. It's just brilliant. Think 'The Passage' mixed with 'The Walking Dead' and you have an idea of its premise. But it still manages to be different from those and other 'zombie' or 'turned' type books.

The girl of the title is Melanie, a young girl who is an orphan, and who has a high IQ and just loves to learn. But Melanie is different from other girls - she is locked in a cell every day and let out for school lessons, but only after she has been strapped into a wheelchair so she cannot move her limbs or head. Her teacher, Miss Justineau, is only allowed into the classroom after she has been doused with a special chemical that completely obliterates her human scent. That way, she knows she is safe from Melanie and all the other children strapped into wheelchairs in her classroom.

All proceedings are monitored by Sergeant Parks, a hateful man with a short temper who thinks nothing of using his fists to get his own way. Then there is Dr Caroline Caldwell, who is determined to find out more about the workings of the brain of these children, and thinks nothing of using a scalpel on any of them to further her scientific investigations. But soon, the routine of their daily lives is to be blown out of all proportions. They will all be fighting to survive in a frightening world of hungries and junkers, with not a friendly face in sight. 

A gripping and action-packed story.

More Than This by Patrick Ness

More Than This
by Patrick Ness

This is a book that will get you thinking. The story begins with a drowning. Sixteen year old Seth is struggling in the icy waters of an ocean - the waves dash him against rocks - he dies. But then, he wakes up - on the front path of a house. Is this heaven or hell? Is he dead or alive? Is this purgatory? You are left with these questions all through the book. Just when you think you know what's happened and where Seth is, the author throws in another conundrum and you're back to puzzling over what on earth is going on. But not in a bad way. Your interest is held as the author reveals what has happened in the past, Seth's relationship with his family and friends, the tragedy that occurred in his family (quite a horrific one too - very moving) for which Seth knows he is to blame and can never forgive himself. Seth is not alone in this strange world. There is the strong and wilful teenage girl Regine, the young Polish boy Tomasz, and the ominous black clad and black helmeted Driver (or 'Death' as Tomasz calls him) who is constantly tracking them down. As they try to answer his questions as to where they are and their purpose of being there, they help him along with answers to problems in his past life, so he starts to realise that there always was and always is 'More than this'.

Tomasz is the one character I found the most entertaining, but also the one I had the most problem with. He is twelve years old and had been learning English ready to start a new life there with his mother when he found himself in this scary new world. But his words are almost philosophical - too mature for a 12-yr-old, never mind a Polish boy just learning the language. But I will forgive the author this as he is my favourite character.

A powerful book for all you thinkers out there!

Metawars - Fight for the Future by Jeff Norton

Metawars - Fight for the Future
by Jeff Norton

It's unfortunate that I read this one after Insignia because so many of the details are the same. Jonah lives in the real world but, like all the other people, he plugs himself into a virtual world where everything is nice and pleasant. That is, until a war starts brewing between the Guardians and the Millenials. The latter want to take over the virtual world and rule it with one governor, whereas the Guardians would rather have a notion of 'free rule' where everybody governs. Both Jonah's parents have been killed as a consequence of the war, so he teams up with his dad's best friend from RAF days, Axel, and his daughter, Sam, to help save the virtual world - the Metasphere - from the clutches of Matthew Granger and his cronies.

This is the first in a four-part Metawars saga.

Insignia by S.J. Kincaid

Insignia
by S.J. Kincaid

This has the makings of a good story, but it takes ages for anything of substance to actually happen, and the book was far too long - 400 pages. The blurb on the back of the book says it is about virtual reality wars in the sky, so I was expecting a lot of war action, but it was rather lacking. It basically follows the story of a teenager who is picked because of his skills on virtual reality games (he even attends a virtual reality school because he moves around so much with his dad), and he is recruited into a school where the pupils are trained to become fighters in the virtual war that is taking place. They all have implants put into their brains so they can be hooked up and programs downloaded into them to speed up the learning process. It seems this young boy has a very rare talent for accessing high security programs using his mind and brain, and can bypass firewalls to get to information. A lot of technical and computer speak abounds! Shame the book wasn't halved!

This is the first in a trilogy. The second, Vortex, is out July 2nd 2013.