Crosstalk

May 30, 2016
SFWA Grand Master Willis’s first novel since 2010’s Blackout/All Clear is a rollicking send-up of obsessive cell phone usage in too-near-future America. A brain-altering medical procedure designed to enhance lovers’ abilities to connect emotionally goes spectacularly haywire for Commspan employee Briddey Flannigan, who’s besieged by her ultra-intrusive Irish-American family, and her fellow employee Trent Worth, a rising star at the tech company. Instead of being linked to Trent, Briddey finds herself telepathically hooked up to C.B. Schwartz, Commspan’s lab-dwelling supernerd. Their connection sets off an extended chain of interpersonal misunderstandings, hilarious coincidences, and sad-but-true reflections on our fixations with digital gadgetry, which can threaten and prevent genuine intimacy. Willis’s canny incorporation of scientific lore, and a riotous cast of stock Irish-American characters who nevertheless manage to surprise the reader, make for an engaging girl-finally-finds-right-boy story that’s unveiled with tact and humor. Willis juxtaposes glimpses of claimed historical telepaths with important reflections about the ubiquity of cell phones and the menace that unscrupulous developers of technology pose to privacy, morality, and emotional stability. Agent: Chris Lotts, Lotts Agency.

Think smartphones and social media are threatening privacy? Imagine if you could hear everyone's thoughts--and they could hear yours.In her new novel, Hugo and Nebula winner Willis (All Clear, 2010, etc.), a master of door-slamming, hide-behind-the-furniture farce, takes as her theme cellphones--or, more broadly, what therapists refer to as "boundary issues." The protagonist, Briddey Flannigan, works at a small communications technology company where everyone is always in each other's business. Briddey has agreed to have an EED--a minor neurosurgical procedure--to enhance her emotional connection with her boyfriend, Trent Worth, a square-jawed up-and-comer who's working on the company's next-gen smartphone and hints he'll propose to her if the operation goes well. The office gossips may be swooning over Trent, but Briddey's equally intrusive extended family members--which includes Aunt Oona's chapter of the Daughters of Ireland--have their own strong opinions about brain surgery and suitable husbands. Dodging phone calls and selling white lies suddenly gets a lot harder when Briddey starts hearing voices in her head and realizes that her private thoughts aren't so private after all. Is it the second sight? True love? Schizophrenia? A breakthrough in smartphone tech? Maybe--but mostly it's a critique of modern society and an unsurprising metaphor for the perils and joys of human connection.In other hands this novel could have been mere cliche, but Willis' exuberant humor and warmhearted, fast-paced plotting transform it into a satisfying, if old-fashioned, romantic comedy. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from August 1, 2016

Would you undergo brain surgery if it meant a deeper emotional connection with your lover? When Trent, Briddey Flannigan's boyfriend, asks her to get an EED--a procedure to open emotional pathways between two people--she agrees, despite her family's disapproval. While Briddey is used to her Irish American relatives meddling in all aspects of her life, she is surprised when coworker C.B. Schwartz tries to stop her from getting the EED as well. The operation does not go as planned, leaving Briddey telepathically joined to C.B. instead of emotionally bonded to Trent. Willis, SFWA Grand Master and Hugo Award winner for her time-travel duology, Blackout and All Clear, returns to the lighter romantic comedy she did so well in To Say Nothing of the Dog. Still, that is not to say that there isn't some scalpel-sharp skewering of cell-phone addiction and our obsession with being connected. While Briddey's family initially comes across as over the top, Willis makes it work as the story builds steam. VERDICT A fun, romantic near-future romp from a sf master. [See Eric Norton's "Genre Spotlight" feature, p. 24ff.--Ed.]--MM

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 1, 2016
SFWA Grand Master Willis returns to farcical romantic comedy (and timely social satire) in this near-future novel. Briddy Flannigan, an executive at Apple rival Commspan, knows that keeping secrets is futile when social connectivity is a global obsession. Hours after boyfriend and coworker Trent Worth proposes, they undergo the hip new minor enhancement procedure, called an EED, that links lovers emotionally, and Briddy is bombarded with digital congratulations. Only her meddlesome Irish American family and C. B. Schwartz, Commspan's eccentric, basement-dwelling genius, object. Naturally, the EED misfires: instead of Trent, Briddy gets connected to C. B., and instead of emotions, she gets telepathy. With C. B. in her head, Briddy has more secrets than ever. Briddy's persistent internal monologue is funny, vulnerable, and skeptical, but as she tosses off lie after lie, she reveals the gulf between surface connections and true intimacy we all struggle to fill. C. B. is a gleefully manic presence, given to passionate tirades on everything from Hedy Lamarr to Lucky Charms. Alongside the central romance, Willis lampoons such diverse elements as helicopter parenting, corporate espionage, and Internet dating. This novel is full of Willis' trademarksthematically rich storytelling, fascinating historical trivia, quick-witted repartee, and plausible speculative technologyand has fun with them, too.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)