Tom Sweterlitsch

Time-travel secret agent Shannon Moss visits future time periods for clues about a Navy SEAL astronaut's murdered family and the disappearance of his teenage daughter, a case that is complicated by the SEAL's and Shannon's own impact on the timeline.

The Gone World

Shivam

7.5

It succeeds in the science-fiction angle early on. The prologue sets up the setting perfectly but I wish there had been more focus on the physics of it all when things start getting clearer. The final act was lacking in coherence and I also feel that a lot of the reveals lacked the punch because they're underwritten. The set up is there but the reveals themself take very little space.

Another thing I find questionable is that a lot of the decisions made by the characters feel like they're missing plenty of build-up.

I still love the fresh take on time travel. There is also a lot of effort put into the leading character early on and it pays off well in the epilogue.

Christine

okay. Okay I have absolutely NO CLUE what just HAPPENED but AWESOME! !!!

I would've loved this so much when I was 14. I mean I still do but the fascination's slightly gone from back then. Still. That was a lot

The Silence of the Lambs meets Interstellar. The terrifying, thrilling and ingenious science-fiction thriller from Tom Sweterlitsch. Film rights bought by Twentieth Century Fox with Neil Blomkamp (District 9, Elysium) to direct. 'Thrilling . . . [a] dark, page-turning thriller' The Guardian A murdered family. A missing girl. Time is running out... 1997. Shannon Moss of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service is assigned to solve the murder of a Navy SEAL's family - and to locate the soldier's missing teenage daughter. When Moss discovers that the SEAL was an astronaut aboard the spaceship U.S.S. Libra - a ship assumed lost to the darkest currents of Deep Time - she comes to believe that the SEAL's experience with the future is somehow related to this violence. Determined to find the missing girl and driven by a troubling connection to her own past, Moss must travel forward in time to seek evidence that will uncover the truth. 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 is the Terminus: the terrifying and cataclysmic end of humanity itself. 'Edge-of-your-seat crime fiction that bends both time and mind. Think True Detective meets 12 Monkeys. Throw in the end of the world and you can begin to imagine where this gut-twisting tale will take you. This is cross-genre fiction at its best' Sylvain Neuvel, author of Sleeping Giants

tori

Shona Tiger

Kept wanting to start over while reading it, the plot is so complex and multi-layered! I wanted to have not read it, for the pleasure of starting again. A horrifying but fantastic read.

Also, still not completely sure what genre this is. The definition of genre-bending.

"I promise you have never read a story like this."--Blake Crouch, New York Times bestselling author of Dark Matter Inception meets True Detective in this science fiction thriller of spellbinding tension and staggering scope that follows a special agent into a savage murder case with grave implications for the fate of mankind... 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.

Janice Hopper

It seems like in the past year or two I've seen more than my share of time travel books. Some are interested, some make you sigh and roll your eyes.

This one made me scratch my head and think. 

Something bad is coming, and it's getting closer. The Terminus. It's a white hole in the sky. It makes people run mad. It will be the end of the human race. Unless Shannon Moss can stop it.

Due to some technology possibly purloined from the future, humanity can travel into the future and back, as well as into deep space. It's all a big secret to most of the world. But then there's a murder of men who shouldn't have been alive. They SHOULD have been on a ship lost in the depths of space. So how'd they end up being murdered on earth??

That's what Shannon has to figure out. And holy moly, there's a twisty-turny route to get to the truth of everything that goes on. It's pretty well done, but after a few twists, you start to feel like you've fallen into a recursive wormhole or something. The comment that it's like Inception meets True Detectives season 1 may be apt, though I haven't seen TD to know for sure.

I listened to it straight through over two days of spinning and knitting. 

One pet peeve: the narrator of this book did the same thing that annoyed me about the narrator of The Luminous Dead. (I even looked them up to see if the same person did the narration. It wasn't the same person, just two narrators with the same "technique," I guess. When things get tense, she makes her voice go all trembly and shaky. It annoys me because, to my ears, it makes the character sound weak. Don't like it. Otherwise, the narration was fine.

The book is a head trip, but it's pretty interesting.

One of my favorite books of the year. Incredibly vivid and unique. The main character is compelling and interesting to follow. It’s an intense and graphic ride. I don’t want to spoil anything! Equal parts time travel, end of the world, and crime thriller. I read this book in about two days and I never wanted to stop. There were a lot of times I caught myself audibly cursing over certain scenes and revelations. 

My only gripes with this book is I wouldn’t have minded it being a little longer or maybe exploring certain elements of the story. There are also some moments where I get all the acronyms mixed up, but that’s probably a personal issue. Would recommend! 

One of my favorite books of the year. Incredibly vivid and unique. The main character is compelling and interesting to follow. It’s an intense and graphic ride. I don’t want to spoil anything! Equal parts time travel, end of the world, and crime thriller. I read this book in about two days and I never wanted to stop. There were a lot of times I caught myself audibly cursing over certain scenes and revelations. 

My only gripes with this book is I wouldn’t have minded it being a little longer or maybe exploring certain elements of the story. There are also some moments where I get all the acronyms mixed up, but that’s probably a personal issue. Would recommend! 

James Paden

Loved it. The deepest I've been drawn into a book in a long time.

B.H. Pitt

Fascinating and exhilaration, this was a modern sci-fi classic.

Michael Reali

Time travel thriller with gripping storytelling

I loved how future timelines are constantly intertwined while the protagonist searches for new clues to the murder mystery. Space, time travel paradoxes and detective work all wrapped in one mind-bending adventure.

Lauren James

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. This was a really smart book. Meaning, it really makes you think. This book kind of blew my mind. 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.

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!

Jeremy Cote

This book had a lot of potential. It's usually these kinds of books that have me the most disappointed. I get my hopes up.

The science-fiction setting was very interesting. The novel is pitched as being like Inception, which got me very interested because that's probably one of my favourite films. However, I found the book to be so labyrinthine that I couldn't follow it well. As such, I didn't have a great experience with the book. Perhaps others will have a different experience.

Jack Baty

Love the whole murder mystery time travel horror weird bits, but frankly I became lost late in the game and never found my footing.

The Gone World

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