The Fold
By: Peter Clines
Genre: Scifi Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Mystery/Thriller
Rating: 3.5 stars
Release: June 2nd 2015

“I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.”

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Synopsis:

STEP INTO THE FOLD.
IT’S PERFECTLY SAFE.

The folks in Mike Erikson’s small New England town would say he’s just your average, everyday guy. And that’s exactly how Mike likes it. Sure, the life he’s chosen isn’t much of a challenge to someone with his unique gifts, but he’s content with his quiet and peaceful existence.

That is, until an old friend presents him with an irresistible mystery, one that Mike is uniquely qualified to solve: far out in the California desert, a team of DARPA scientists has invented a device they affectionately call the Albuquerque Door. Using a cryptic computer equation and magnetic fields to “fold” dimensions, it shrinks distances so that a traveler can travel hundreds of feet with a single step.

The invention promises to make mankind’s dreams of teleportation a reality. And, the scientists insist, traveling through the Door is completely safe.

Yet evidence is mounting that this miraculous machine isn’t quite what it seems—and that its creators are harboring a dangerous secret.

As his investigations draw him deeper into the puzzle, Mike begins to fear there’s only one answer that makes sense. And if he’s right, it may only be a matter of time before the project destroys…everything.

A cunningly inventive mystery featuring a hero worthy of Sherlock Holmes and a terrifying final twist you’ll never see coming, The Fold is that rarest of things: a genuinely page-turning science-fiction thriller. Step inside its pages and learn why author Peter Clines has already won legions of loyal fans.

 

Book Review

I’ve never read anything by Peter Clines before, but I wanted to read this book based on two things. The synopsis and the sneak preview clip I listened to of the audiobook version over at Audiobookreviewer.com—I’ll see if I can find the link and share it at the end of this post. It’s really funny and I’m in love with the narrator.

Moving on, this book is a little bit of a hidden gem. The amount of comedic and quick humor, secrecy, doubt, jaw dropping, and laugh out loud moments I encountered in this book were too many to count.

The tone and pace used by the author successfully progresses the story forward enough so that reader doesn’t feel lost, but also stalls it enough so that we (the reader), along with the characters get to discover the truth about the Albuquerque Door along with everyone else.

I also found this book to be somewhat of a quick read thanks to the pacing. It was hard to put the book down, once the story started to pick up. Not to say it has a boring or lackluster beginning, but a slightly slow and mysterious one.

We, as the reader, are not given any sort of detailed backstory about any of the characters—not really anyway, until Mike begins to “observe” the door.

Likewise, until the reader (and the characters) discover the truth about the door, there is this constant flux in and out of this realm similar to The X-Files. Seeing as how the project was run by a government agency, it didn’t really help to disband that overall vibe.

While I enjoyed the book’s concept, pacing, characters, and plot, I must admit the repetitive catch phrase by one of the characters, Susan, got very annoying. Moreover, I found that the author devoted too much time on constructing the elaborate mystery behind what the scientists were trying to cover up and hide about the door that when the dangerous effects of the door began to happen, the plots did not seem entirely planned out.

Moreover, the ending left me a few narrative questions about the door, the creatures slicing through each alternate reality and how exactly they were destroying all of the other universes and the “agents” who approached Mike at the end of the book.

What was more interesting, rather less believable, was the fact that all of the scientist working on the Albuquerque Door, who were supposed geniuses themselves did not catch onto the fact that it was negatively affecting the travelers. They themselves admit that they no only had no clue how the door actually worked, yet they based it off of a theory on alternate dimensions by a supposed delusional theorist.

I don’t know about you, but if you tell me you added 4 + 4 and got 8, I’m not going to go around spouting how impossible that is. It took the Albuquerque Door team a long time to accept the fact that they knew absolutely nothing about the door and how it really worked.

As I mentioned before, I have not read anything by Peter Clines before this book, but I’ve recently learned that his areas of expertise, rather preference genres are along the lines of Apocalypses, Zombies, Mystery and Horror. Aside from the zombie factor—but not by much—this book definitely fits into that mold. This book had a lot of elements that I know a few of my friends would enjoy to read, so it’s definitely a book I would recommend to others to pick up.

 

About the Author

Thank you so much for reading :). If you liked this review or this book’s plot piqued your interest, I highly recommend you check it out.

Gia.

P.S. As promised, here is the audiobook sample I mentioned at the beginning of the post. If you prefer audiobooks over physical copies and you’d like to give this book a try, it’s available on Audible.com ^__^