The Flicker Men

Starred review from May 4, 2015
Kosmatka (Prophet of Bones) effectively harnesses his impressive imagination in the service of a mind-blowing plot in this outstanding SF thriller. Struggling physicist Eric Argus, who has been contemplating suicide, gets a chance to rehabilitate his career by taking a provisional job at Massachusetts’s Hansen Research. The parameters of his work are loose enough to allow him to conduct whatever research he wants, as long as it has scientific merit. Despite, or perhaps because of, this freedom, Eric is unable to gain any traction—until he decides to recreate the classic wave-particle experiment on the nature of quantum mechanics. Eric finds that conscious observation somehow affects the position of electrons passing through a slit. When he takes the inquiry a step further, to see whether animals could affect electrons by observing them, he gets an unexpected result that ends up having highly dramatic consequences. Ingenious plot twists, well-realized characters, and superior prose elevate this above similar books. Agent: Seth Fishman, Gernert Company.

May 15, 2015
In this science-fiction-laced thriller, a researcher runs afoul of a sinister organization after making an ominous discovery about human consciousness. Eric Argus, Kosmatka's narrator, is a troubled man. When the book opens, his life is nearing the bottom of an emotional, professional, and physical spiral: his demons have (understandably) estranged him from much of his family, and his scientific career has seemingly expired. The experiment that revives it seems to offer proof of the existence of the soul; soon, Eric is enmeshed with both the societal implications of his discovery and more pressing threats, as sinister forces begin to put him and his colleagues into harm's way. In the novel's first half, the most memorable scenes are those of intelligent people bantering about high-concept ideas: "We reached a 16-coherence state and then used nuclear resonance to decode it" being one memorable example. And the more high-concept aspects of the book, both via Eric's initial research and through a larger perspective that the plot eventually brings in, are impressively ominous. Eric's tortured family back story, though, begins to seem increasingly irrelevant as the novel proceeds toward its conclusion. And for all that Kosmatka has put in to his impressive premise, the times when his protagonist is forced to contend with warring secret factions can feel overly familiar. This novel is at its most memorable when it's at its smartest, leaving its flawed narrator to contend with the terrifying implications of all that he's set in motion. Though it loses steam when it covers familiar ground, Kosmatka's novel delivers a number of thrills, along with believable science and ominous themes.

COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

November 1, 2015

Close to killing himself on a daily basis, broken, alcoholic Eric Argus is given one last chance. His friend from college, Jeremy, offers Eric an opportunity to restart the research he left behind years before after a mental breakdown. As a quantum physicist, Eric was precipitously close to the edge as he got closer to scientific discoveries that could change the way we think about humanity and the universe. With this second chance, Eric sets up shop again and regains his interest in work by replicating the famous double-slit experiment-an experiment that investigates the nature of light and matter. With research partner Satvik, he encounters a discovery with tremendous ramifications, as the results include the possibility that only human beings have souls. But there are those out there who want to control this kind of information. Eric finds himself in a life and death struggle, not knowing whom to trust and unable to discern anyone's intentions. Math and physics logic is embedded throughout as the protagonist explains the theories behind his research. Teens who study physics, math, or philosophy will be able to grapple alongside Eric as he works his way through the logic of the theory. This story endeavors to overturn common wisdom about life, death, the afterlife, and conception. VERDICT Action, adventure, and a ruthless villain who will stop at nothing to halt the progress of this discovery will leave readers on edge until the last page.-Connie Williams, Petaluma High School, CA

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2015
Kosmatka, author of The Games (2012) and Prophet of Bones (2013), is three-for-three now. His new novel tells the story of Eric Argus, a disgraced physicist who takes a job at a think tank and shocks the world when, during a replication of the famous double-slit experimentdesigned to show that light can behave both as a wave and as a stream of particleshe finds proof of the existence of the human soul. This is a troubling enough discovery (elements of the religious community have some serious concerns, for example), but it's soon followed by something even more unnerving: stories emerge of people walking among us who have no souls. Determined to find out whether the stories are true, Eric discovers that his life has been targeted by someoneor something? As he did in his first two novels, Kosmatka combines real science, fictional characters, and some clever (and plausible) speculation to create a first-rate thriller.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

February 1, 2015

In this latest from Locus and Nebula finalist Kosmatka, who likes putting science on edge, the already controversial Eric Argus replicates Richard Feynman's double-slit experiment demonstrating the dual nature of light and matter, then in expanded research detects a relentless difference between humans and other animals. In fact, he's discovered the human soul. Whoa!

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 15, 2015

Kosmatka (Prophet of Bones) has written a brilliant novel about the potentials of scientific discovery and its effects on the world. Eric Argus, a struggling unemployed alcoholic, is given a second chance by a friend at a leading research company. Having left his previous experiments behind, Eric, a physicist, replicates another physicist's old experiment that allows him to see for himself the paradoxical nature of light and matter. In the process of running the experiment, Eric changes the course of several lives as he shares a truth--only human beings can collapse the wave function in the experiment, suggesting there is a "soul"--and in the process accidentally unleashes something larger: not all human beings can do this. What does it mean for the world that there are "soulless" individuals and who are they? Eric's experiment is seen as a threat by many, and soon he is facing not only the destruction of his work but also of his life, friends, and family. VERDICT This well-written and fast-paced scientific thriller builds into beautiful and suspenseful crescendo until the climax in the final chapters. It will leave readers wondering about the possibilities of this world and others. [See Prepub Alert, 2/2/15.]--Michelle Martinez, Sam Houston State Univ. Lib., Huntsville, TX

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2015

Kosmatka (Prophet of Bones) has written a brilliant novel about the potentials of scientific discovery and its effects on the world. Eric Argus, a struggling unemployed alcoholic, is given a second chance by a friend at a leading research company. Having left his previous experiments behind, Eric, a physicist, replicates another physicist's old experiment that allows him to see for himself the paradoxical nature of light and matter. In the process of running the experiment, Eric changes the course of several lives as he shares a truth--only human beings can collapse the wave function in the experiment, suggesting there is a "soul"--and in the process accidentally unleashes something larger: not all human beings can do this. What does it mean for the world that there are "soulless" individuals and who are they? Eric's experiment is seen as a threat by many, and soon he is facing not only the destruction of his work but also of his life, friends, and family. VERDICT This well-written and fast-paced scientific thriller builds into beautiful and suspenseful crescendo until the climax in the final chapters. It will leave readers wondering about the possibilities of this world and others. [See Prepub Alert, 2/2/15.]--Michelle Martinez, Sam Houston State Univ. Lib., Huntsville, TX

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.