The Fold by Peter Clines
Genre: Sci-fi, Thriller
Pages: 384
Published: 2015
STEP INTO THE FOLD. IT’S PERFECTLY SAFE.
The Fold to me is one of those books that you come across a few times in your life that catch you completely off guard. I had no idea this book existed, I had never seen anyone talk about it. I initially saw it on the ‘new releases’ shelf in a tiny sea-side bookstore when I was on vacation this past summer, and it stayed in my head for three months until I finally bought it.
My initial attraction to this book was the cover. Just look at it, it’s beautiful. And when I was oogling it in the bookstore, I felt the cover too. It’s textured. The fold on the cover, you can feel it. After I finished running my hands over the thing, I read the back of it and it drew me right in:
This book is about a man, Mike, who possesses a photographic memory. He’s asked by a friend to assess a secretive project called ‘The Albuquerque Door’, which uses a computer equation to ‘fold’ dimensions, creating a worm hole from one entrance to another. During this assessment, Mike starts to suspect there is more to the door than what sits in front of him, and that it may be more sinister than anyone thought possible. (Here is the full synopsis)
The thing that stuck out to me repeatedly while reading this book was that it felt like a Dan Brown novel (not saying this as a bad thing!). The main character I feel could have come right out of the guy’s head. The pacing is strikingly familiar as well. I feel that if Dan Brown had chosen to write a futuristic sci-fi instead of about the illuminati, he probably could have created this masterpiece.
And that’s just what it is: A masterpiece. I loved this book. Peter Clines did a spectacular job creating a story that drew me in and kept me there. (and while I said his writing reminded me of Dan Brown… honestly I think Cline’s is a little better, a little more gripping) The main character, while he took me a while to warm to, developed into a decent guy, despite being self-described as a Severus Snape doppleganger. That was another thing I enjoyed about this one – there were nerdy pop culture references dotted throughout the thing – Bugs Bunny, Star Trek, Stargate, Harry Potter, A Game of Thrones.. they were everywhere, but not so prominent that it distracted from the story line.
The Albuquerque Door itself was so interesting. As the story develops, you get to see it more and more in action, and each time it grows more sinister and it had me growing more uneasy every time someone stepped through it. The theory behind the door is fascinating as well, especially when the door’s origins slowly start revealing themselves. There wasn’t really an aspect about this book that I disliked.
My absolute favorite part about this book was the pacing. It was just perfect. It started out slow, but stayed interesting, as the reader is introduced to the characters and the setting. And then as soon as you start wondering when something’s gonna happen, BOOM. You turn the page, read the next sentence, and your jaw drops. You throw the book across the room, yelling ‘WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT’ and then you go get it and re-read the sentence to make sure you read it correctly.
And then, you don’t stop reading for the rest of the book. It just keeps coming – over and over, something happens that throws your ‘just one more chapter’ promise out the window. You stay up all night reading this thing. Your eyes bug out, your palms sweat, you forget to eat. Hell, I even had a dream about it when I forced myself to go to bed. This book gripped me by the heart, and I loved it.
I agonized over this book. I took it to class with me, I took it to work, I camped out in the living room late into the night, just reading it. This book became my life for three days. I couldn’t stop thinking about it, couldn’t focus on anything else. I loved the experience of reading this book as much as I loved this book.
And to think, the only reason I read it was because it had a pretty cover and was sitting in the front of a little shop on a boardwalk as I happened to by walking by.
Go read this. I’m going to be thinking about it for a long time, and it’s definitely become one of my favorite books. Buh, I want to reread it already!
Rating: 5/5 stars
Holy moly
Embuhleeliest 