Happy to review THE FOLD today by Peter Clines. Proud of the disclaimer for this review, which is Peter is a friend of mine and somebody I admire a great deal.
THE FOLD is a sidequel to Peter’s runaway hit 14, a sidequel being a standalone story that follows in the footsteps of another. In 14, the tenants of an apartment building discover strange clues that leads to an astonishing discovery and possibly the end of the world. It’s like Scooby Doo meets LOST, though without LOST’s more annoying aspects.
In THE FOLD, Mike is a genius with a photographic memory. An old classmate and bigwig in the government, Reggie, has been trying to recruit him for years to work on secret government projects, but Mike has found happiness and peace being a schoolteacher, and wants nothing to do with it. Then Reggie presents him with an irresistible mystery–a project in which a small group of scientists have invented an inter-dimensional portal that allows teleportation. It works, the scientists insist, and it’s safe. But something’s wrong. Something feels wrong.
As Mike investigates, he realizes the machine isn’t what it seems. That it may, in fact, destroy the world.
In some respects, Peter reprises 14, but with new characters, additional lore and some new surprising twists. So if you’re already familiar with 14, this standalone novel still offers great twists and surprises, and made for very quick and satisfying reading. Otherwise, it contains the same basic elements that made 14 so successful–endearing characters, humor, an intense mystery that is slowly revealed, easygoing writing style and good pacing. The pages flew by, something hard to accomplish with this jaded reader with limited time.
The sky’s the limit for Peter Clines. Can’t wait to see what he comes up with next.
.
.
Leave a Reply