Thoughts 
by Dexter Palmer, Vintage 2016, 512 pages
MOTIVATION for READING: I tbr’d this book back in November and I’m not sure if that is when the TOB Long List was published? but I know I had interest in this book before the short list was announced. I’m just getting to it now.
WHAT’s it ABOUT: Rebecca is a young wife, recovering from a tragedy a few years back and is married to a physicist working on a causality violation device (do NOT call it a time machine!) She suspects that something is ‘off’, things just aren’t quite right, normal feels vaguely odd. Gee, whatever could it be?
WHAT’s GOOD: This is a meaty story with lots of interesting characters and details and tension. A bit of foreshadowing and a few teasers are dropped in and the slow build really keeps the interest going.
The drop in conversations with The President were very creepy. The autonomous automobiles were cool.
What’s NOT so good: Though I loved the sly political commentary on person rights versus data collection and the analysis of how computer dating systems are designed to be financially viable, I was not so comfortable or convinced on a few plot points.
FINAL THOUGHTS: In the beginning, I had that eager anticipation that this book was going to be SOMETHING, a book of heft and weight and delight in its unfolding. And not that it wasn’t, but it arc’d. Though it ended satisfactorily, it wasn’t the five slicer I had initially thought it could be.
RATING: A solid four slice of pie thriller.
