Faller

August 15, 2016
The survivors call it Day One: the day Earth tore apart into pieces (each of which somehow retains its own atmosphere) and its inhabitants lost their biographical memories and their ability to comprehend written language. In this unconventional apocalyptic thriller by Hugo-winner McIntosh (Burning Midnight), a man without any memories struggles to understand what happened during Day One with only the objects he pulls from his pants pockets: the photo of a couple holding hands, a food wrapper with cryptic images traced on the reverse, and a toy soldier and parachute. The man names himself Clue because he knows that these items are clues to understand what has happened to the world. All he has to do is figure out what they mean. Alternating between Clue’s present and flashbacks to the past, McIntosh puts physics to the test with a world-bending, mind-tripping thought experiment that functions well for the most part. As long as the reader is willing to accept an impossible premise, sloppiness with details—such as there being no mention of water anywhere on the chunks of planet—and some choppy prose, this is an overall sound piece of work. Agent: Seth Fishman, Gernert Company.

October 15, 2016

On Day One, people wake in a broken landscape with no memories of their previous lives or identities. The man who comes to be known as Faller holds several clues in his pocket, including a toy soldier with a parachute, a photo of him with a beautiful woman, and a map drawn in his own blood. To earn food Faller tries to gather a crowd with a full-scale version of his toy parachutist. But when he jumps off a building he ends up falling off the side of the world. Meanwhile, alternating chapters tell of a man named Peter Sandoval and the lab experiments that he hopes will yield an unlimited source of energy. As Faller and Peter tell their stories, it becomes clear they are the same man and the suspense builds as we learn what led to Faller's fractured realm. VERDICT This new novel from McIntosh (Love Minus Eighty; Hitchers) appears to be marketed as hard sf, but the science (clones, minisingularities, severed islands of earth hanging in midair) never really make sense.--MM

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2016
McIntosh's new novel opens on an earth ripped apart and transformed into impossibly floating islands, inhabited by the now-amnesiac world population, some of whom seem to be doppelgangers of one another. The story follows Faller, a man who parachutes off of the edge of his own island and who hopes to be able to piece together his own past and the secret behind the strange world he lives in. The narrative jumps back and forth between Faller and his pre Day One self, allowing McIntosh to explore both his floating dystopia and the near-future earth that created it. The strengths of the novel are definitely with its concepts, plotting, and action scenes, especially on the transformed earth. At times, characterization can feel slightly weak, particularly in the flashback sections, but in a relatively short novel primarily focused on action rather than introspection, this doesn't negatively impact the effectiveness of the novel too much. Overall, McIntosh has created an exciting and engaging sf thriller that would be of interest to genre fans and general readers alike.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)