Flashback

Starred review from May 23, 2011
Simmons makes some logical if depressing extrapolations from current political and economic developments in this outstanding mystery thriller set in a near-future dystopic United States. The loss of credible deterrence after the U.S. drastically reduced its nuclear arsenal as part of a deal with Russia has led to devastating attacks by Muslim terrorists on Israel. Most Americans take flashback, an addictive drug that brings back favorite memories, to relive the past when they should be planning for the future. One such addict is Nick Bottom, a former Denver police officer, who loses himself in re-experiencing good times with his late wife. Billionaire Hiroshi Nakamura, one of the fragmented nation's nine regional Federal Advisors, hires Bottom to find the unknown assailant who cut the throat of his only son, 20-year-old Keigo, six years earlier. Bottom, who worked on the unsolved crime, uses flashback to pick up a trail suggesting a far from simple motive for Keigo's killing. Simmons keeps the action moving briskly and smoothly, despite the novel's length.

February 15, 2011

Flashback: it's a drug that lets you relive your most blissful moments. Most Americans are addicted to it (to hell with society, which is collapsing all 'round), and because of it Det. Nick Bottoms has lost his job and his son. Unfortunately, he's been wallowing in flashback since the death of his wife. Then he's hired to investigate the murder of a political bigwig's son, and he could just get the country back on track. A nicely different approach to the apocalyptic novel from the author of The Terror; try it.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from July 1, 2011
Simmons, who seems to like setting off in new directions with each novel, takes us to the near future (approximately 2032) for this gritty, ambitious thriller. America is in political and economic death throes, having splintered into factions and independent political entities, and the prevalence of the drug flashback, which allows users to relive events in their lives, has birthed a dark, dangerous subculture. Former Denver police detective Nick Bottom is hired to solve a crime he couldn't six years ago, the murder of the son of a Japanese advisor to the U.S. government. He takes the case not because he gives a damn but because he wants money for enough flashback to relive moments with his deceased wife. But as he investigatesfirst using the drug to reexperience his previous investigation, then following up with the same witnesses and suspectshe realizes that catching the killer has become more important than losing himself in the past. As usual, Simmons, best known for his sf novels and the best-seller Drood (2009), creates a remarkably vivid and nuanced fictional universe. And Nick Bottomit's no accident that his name is identical to the character in A Midsummer Night's Dreamis a beautifully drawn, memorable character. Another winner from Simmons, whose imagination seems to know no bounds.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)