In Free Fall

Despite the grisly murder that is central to the story, IN FREE FALL is a twisty mediation about ideas rather than a crime novel, and, as such, is probably better suited to the eye than the ear. That is to take nothing away from narrator Mark Bramhall, who is arid when he needs to be--especially in the philosophical arguments between physicist rivals Sebastian and Oscar--and desperate and despairing when called upon--as Sebastian finds his perfect life headed to ruin. But even the most attentive listener will find it difficult to stay on point as the narrative gives way to Zeh's playful commentary on physics and reality. Those who attempt to listen to this book should be forewarned: It is a work that will require full concentration. M.O. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

February 22, 2010
The theoretical physics concept known as the Many-Worlds Interpretation, in which “everything that is at all possible exists somewhere,” forms the backdrop for Zeh's second novel (after Eagles and Angels
), an engrossing if enigmatic story of a murder and its aftermath. German physicists Oskar and Sebastian are both friends and rivals, who have drifted apart after the latter's marriage. While Sebastian is driving his 10-year-old son to camp, the boy disappears during a stop at a gas station. When a woman phones Sebastian and tells him, “Dabbelink must go,” he interprets this to mean that to obtain his kidnapped son's freedom, he must get rid of Dabbelink, a bicycling companion of his wife linked to a medical scandal. Erudite digressions and vivid characters—such as a detective with a trusting nature who learns always “to assume the opposite of what she was thinking”—combine with a devastating 11th-hour reveal to make a memorable intellectual thriller.