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Quantum Cage
A group of physicists achieve something remarkable – a communication link to aliens that possess a groundbreaking enigma with the potential to transform life on Earth.
A team of scientists working on a secret NASA-funded project involving quantum theory bring in accountant Darren Costa to deal with some complex federal paperwork. But when the group reveal that they have accidentally established a communication link across space and time to four aliens, Darren suddenly finds himself becoming far more involved in their work than he expected.
In the scientists’ glass cage, Darren connects to the aliens and their planet through a series of dream-like visions. Is it possible that an incomplete mathematical formula shared by the aliens is the key to unlocking secrets that could prevent Earth’s future extinction and ensure humanity’s survival? One thing’s for certain, with both humans and aliens facing enemies determined to stop them at any cost, solving the puzzle is now a matter of life and death . . .
A race against time to solve an enigma that could alter the course of humanity’s existence with a thrilling alien twist, perfect for fans of Quantum Radio by A. G. Riddle and any epic science fiction from Adrian Tchaikovsky.
A team of scientists working on a secret NASA-funded project involving quantum theory bring in accountant Darren Costa to deal with some complex federal paperwork. But when the group reveal that they have accidentally established a communication link across space and time to four aliens, Darren suddenly finds himself becoming far more involved in their work than he expected.
In the scientists’ glass cage, Darren connects to the aliens and their planet through a series of dream-like visions. Is it possible that an incomplete mathematical formula shared by the aliens is the key to unlocking secrets that could prevent Earth’s future extinction and ensure humanity’s survival? One thing’s for certain, with both humans and aliens facing enemies determined to stop them at any cost, solving the puzzle is now a matter of life and death . . .
A race against time to solve an enigma that could alter the course of humanity’s existence with a thrilling alien twist, perfect for fans of Quantum Radio by A. G. Riddle and any epic science fiction from Adrian Tchaikovsky.
- GenresFiction
186 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 5, 2025
8 people are currently reading
41 people want to read
About the author
Davis Bunn
111 books1,041 followersDavis Bunn is an internationally-acclaimed author who has sold more than eight million books in twenty languages.
Honored with four Christy Awards for excellence in historical and suspense fiction, Davis was inducted into the Christy Hall of Fame in 2014.
His bestsellers include The Great Divide, Winner Take All, The Meeting Place, The Book of Hours, and The Quilt. A sought-after lecturer in the art of writing, Bunn was serves as Writer in Residence at Regent's Park College, Oxford University.
Davis Bunn also writes under the names Thomas Locke (for his epic fantasy and techno-thriller novels) and T. Davis Bunn (for books published prior to 2002).
Honored with four Christy Awards for excellence in historical and suspense fiction, Davis was inducted into the Christy Hall of Fame in 2014.
His bestsellers include The Great Divide, Winner Take All, The Meeting Place, The Book of Hours, and The Quilt. A sought-after lecturer in the art of writing, Bunn was serves as Writer in Residence at Regent's Park College, Oxford University.
Davis Bunn also writes under the names Thomas Locke (for his epic fantasy and techno-thriller novels) and T. Davis Bunn (for books published prior to 2002).
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 14, 2025
Quantum Cage is the story of a man joining a top secret team partially made up of old friends to mind meld with aliens while navigating dangers on Earth and on that other planet. In the relatively small count of pages it had, it accomplished a complete story arc with a satisfying conclusion. There was a twist I didn't quite see coming that was really well done. I really enjoyed the aliens and the transits and everything about that storyline. Weirdly, it was the human things that detracted from it. As a whole package, though, it wasn't bad, and I'm not mad I read it.
3.5 stars, rounded down for reasons I'll detail below.
I had some issues with it, though. For a short novel, there were parts that were unnecessarily repetitive (far, far too many scenes wasting sentences on descriptions of meals, for one). I found the narrative dragging in places, and I chalk that up to delaying information for the mystery of it, which ultimately just made things more confusing. I'm no physicist, certainly, but there were places where description of physics (or dreams, or alien society) felt bulked up with fluff, like a student might do when trying to hit the word count on an essay. Descriptions were long, but vague, sometimes nearly incomprehensible. Early on, I assumed it was to draw out the big reveals, but it wasn't something that lessened as the story progressed.
I started out really wanting to know more about Darren's family and his strained relationship with these old friends, but ultimately they didn't really matter much. Despite being told about his grief for his wife, I didn't feel it. I actually kind of hated her for forcing his separation from his friends for what felt like a really stupid reason. But unfortunately, the friend storyline didn't really give me what I wanted, either. They each had their own little story and/or backstory (Barry and his hotel sale, Tanaka and his good deeds), but they didn't really matter. Despite the story opening up with Darren and Barry (for faaar too long leading up to the alien reveal, which I knew from the blurb), Neil ended up being the most consequential to the plot. It all left me feeling like the friends could have been mashed into one old best friend to make for a much tighter story.
I received an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
3.5 stars, rounded down for reasons I'll detail below.
I had some issues with it, though. For a short novel, there were parts that were unnecessarily repetitive (far, far too many scenes wasting sentences on descriptions of meals, for one). I found the narrative dragging in places, and I chalk that up to delaying information for the mystery of it, which ultimately just made things more confusing. I'm no physicist, certainly, but there were places where description of physics (or dreams, or alien society) felt bulked up with fluff, like a student might do when trying to hit the word count on an essay. Descriptions were long, but vague, sometimes nearly incomprehensible. Early on, I assumed it was to draw out the big reveals, but it wasn't something that lessened as the story progressed.
I started out really wanting to know more about Darren's family and his strained relationship with these old friends, but ultimately they didn't really matter much. Despite being told about his grief for his wife, I didn't feel it. I actually kind of hated her for forcing his separation from his friends for what felt like a really stupid reason. But unfortunately, the friend storyline didn't really give me what I wanted, either. They each had their own little story and/or backstory (Barry and his hotel sale, Tanaka and his good deeds), but they didn't really matter. Despite the story opening up with Darren and Barry (for faaar too long leading up to the alien reveal, which I knew from the blurb), Neil ended up being the most consequential to the plot. It all left me feeling like the friends could have been mashed into one old best friend to make for a much tighter story.
I received an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
August 8, 2025
This was an unusual novel both for the author who is very diverse in what he selects for his subject matter. Its a "first contact/alien" book with a different approach. A DARPA backed research program into Quantum Mechanics and its place in the universe discovers an alien intelligence that has learned to us it to their advantage. The project stumbles onto these beings and is trying to determine how to harness it.
Three of the protagonists oldest and best friends are involved with one the primary scientist leading the research. They contact the protagonist (who has just lost his wife and is heart broken) and offer him a job. He fits in so well he becomes the primary driver of the project. At this point it is not only a first contact plot, but also a very well written character driven story that takes some twists and surprises in the end.
A very good book in a different genre for this fine author.
Three of the protagonists oldest and best friends are involved with one the primary scientist leading the research. They contact the protagonist (who has just lost his wife and is heart broken) and offer him a job. He fits in so well he becomes the primary driver of the project. At this point it is not only a first contact plot, but also a very well written character driven story that takes some twists and surprises in the end.
A very good book in a different genre for this fine author.
May 12, 2025
Quantum Cage is a science fiction novel with a non-scientist as a main character to help with all the science explanations. But this book is about the impact of loss - how it affects a person and if the grief is worth the relationship. As the saying goes, is it better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all?
This story is about relationships, not science. Old friends, new friends, spouses, children, co-workers, those who serve, and those who lead. It is a book with a multi-ethnic cast in which ethnicity plays no part in the story. Hand wave at the science and government conspiracies, and focus on the people.
I liked the story.
Family friendly with a bit of violence.
Thanks to NetGalley and Severn House. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
This story is about relationships, not science. Old friends, new friends, spouses, children, co-workers, those who serve, and those who lead. It is a book with a multi-ethnic cast in which ethnicity plays no part in the story. Hand wave at the science and government conspiracies, and focus on the people.
I liked the story.
Family friendly with a bit of violence.
Thanks to NetGalley and Severn House. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
July 21, 2025
Alien First-Contact story with great ideas that didn't really go anywhere.
I picked this up because I am always fascinated by First-Contact stories. How do you engage with someone who is so different (so alien) that a different language and culture is the barest of obstacles to overcome. Even if we grasp their language, we would still struggle to comprehend the simplest of things.
This story approaches the idea from an angle I hadn't seen before. Aliens haven't landed on earth, and we haven't landed on an alien planet. We were merely trying to make a communication device that would work instantly between Earth and Mars. To overcome the problem that sending an urgent message between the two planets could take up to 24 minutes. They succeeded, a little too well, when they contacted a planet light years away in another galaxy, purely by accident. What makes this even more interesting is how 'Second Sound' works. A person is hooked up, and within a few seconds, they are communicating outside of time and space. This allows them to speak to someone across galaxies instantly and converse for hours. As expected, experiencing several hours within the space of a few seconds takes a toll on the human body.
Mind was blown. I am fully emersed in the story, I like the science, and the characters aren't annoying.
... But it doesn't go very far. It has a lot of repetition, it spends a lot of time talking about the equations they are trying to figure out and when we get close to completing them, the book ends. We get a lot of vague descriptions of the alien culture and some of it is very interesting, but then again, the book ends just as we get two of the aliens on Earth. They are killed before we can even learn more. Even the geo-political plot line of the effects this discovery would have. How this technology has the potential to spark war, controversies, and political treaties... ended before we can get too far.
This whole book has great ideas, but the whole story reads as a prologue. If there is another book in the pipeline that expands on these ideas further, I might look into it. As it stands on it's own, it feels too incomplete, like a message cut short.
Thanks to NetGalley and Severn House. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
I picked this up because I am always fascinated by First-Contact stories. How do you engage with someone who is so different (so alien) that a different language and culture is the barest of obstacles to overcome. Even if we grasp their language, we would still struggle to comprehend the simplest of things.
This story approaches the idea from an angle I hadn't seen before. Aliens haven't landed on earth, and we haven't landed on an alien planet. We were merely trying to make a communication device that would work instantly between Earth and Mars. To overcome the problem that sending an urgent message between the two planets could take up to 24 minutes. They succeeded, a little too well, when they contacted a planet light years away in another galaxy, purely by accident. What makes this even more interesting is how 'Second Sound' works. A person is hooked up, and within a few seconds, they are communicating outside of time and space. This allows them to speak to someone across galaxies instantly and converse for hours. As expected, experiencing several hours within the space of a few seconds takes a toll on the human body.
Mind was blown. I am fully emersed in the story, I like the science, and the characters aren't annoying.
... But it doesn't go very far. It has a lot of repetition, it spends a lot of time talking about the equations they are trying to figure out and when we get close to completing them, the book ends. We get a lot of vague descriptions of the alien culture and some of it is very interesting, but then again, the book ends just as we get two of the aliens on Earth. They are killed before we can even learn more. Even the geo-political plot line of the effects this discovery would have. How this technology has the potential to spark war, controversies, and political treaties... ended before we can get too far.
This whole book has great ideas, but the whole story reads as a prologue. If there is another book in the pipeline that expands on these ideas further, I might look into it. As it stands on it's own, it feels too incomplete, like a message cut short.
Thanks to NetGalley and Severn House. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 5, 2025
The interstellar communication
A NASA funded physics project accidentally cracked something extraordinary, an extrasolar communication with extraterrestrials. The alien transmissions to earth included fragments of a mysterious solution to a physical phenomenon crucial to preventing Earth’s extinction. The substance of the story is around a high-tech “glass cage” in the physics laboratory where Darren Costa, an accountant with no physics or mathematical knowledge experiences dreamlike visions of the alien world and their scientists. The human scientific team had accidentally created a path in spacetime to four alien species from the “glass cage.” From Darren’s visions humans learn that the alien transmissions are fragments of an incomplete mathematical formula that is grounded in quantum physics. The human scientists are baffled by the mystery behind the coded message and get more interested in the Darren’s visons.
Several authors have addressed these fictional stories about alien-human communication: Arthur C. Clarke (Childhood’s End), Stanisław Lem (Solaris), and Carl Sagan (Contact). Sagan’s work was made into a Hollywood film in 1997 starring Jodie Foster. The present work has similarities to the work of Carl Sagan where aliens give humanity a coded message with advanced physics pointing toward deeper truths about physical reality of the material world. The alien code included a recipe to build a machine, a transport system that creates a quantum wormhole or spacetime gateway to the alien world.
The writing of the book is terse, and I found difficulty in connecting with the story. The story of Darren’s personal life where he mourns the demise of his wife is similar to how Jodie Foster, as Ellie Arroway connect with her late father in the movie “Contact.” The aliens try to communicate with her through her father. Darren’s memories of his late wife and his “visions in the quantum cage” may have something to do with alien communication.
A NASA funded physics project accidentally cracked something extraordinary, an extrasolar communication with extraterrestrials. The alien transmissions to earth included fragments of a mysterious solution to a physical phenomenon crucial to preventing Earth’s extinction. The substance of the story is around a high-tech “glass cage” in the physics laboratory where Darren Costa, an accountant with no physics or mathematical knowledge experiences dreamlike visions of the alien world and their scientists. The human scientific team had accidentally created a path in spacetime to four alien species from the “glass cage.” From Darren’s visions humans learn that the alien transmissions are fragments of an incomplete mathematical formula that is grounded in quantum physics. The human scientists are baffled by the mystery behind the coded message and get more interested in the Darren’s visons.
Several authors have addressed these fictional stories about alien-human communication: Arthur C. Clarke (Childhood’s End), Stanisław Lem (Solaris), and Carl Sagan (Contact). Sagan’s work was made into a Hollywood film in 1997 starring Jodie Foster. The present work has similarities to the work of Carl Sagan where aliens give humanity a coded message with advanced physics pointing toward deeper truths about physical reality of the material world. The alien code included a recipe to build a machine, a transport system that creates a quantum wormhole or spacetime gateway to the alien world.
The writing of the book is terse, and I found difficulty in connecting with the story. The story of Darren’s personal life where he mourns the demise of his wife is similar to how Jodie Foster, as Ellie Arroway connect with her late father in the movie “Contact.” The aliens try to communicate with her through her father. Darren’s memories of his late wife and his “visions in the quantum cage” may have something to do with alien communication.
January 2, 2026
Whew. What a mess of a book!
I had no real idea what was going on through much of this short, 185 page book, although I suspected what would happen in the end.
The writing was annoyingly terse with short statement type sentences. It felt like I was reading a diary more than a crafted story.
Much of the story was repetitious descriptions of food being eaten, plodding between the main house and the lab, sleeping, waking, arguing about whether to make a transit over and over and over again.
Looking back, this is story of reunification of four buddies after decades separated due to a prank three of the group pulled on the fourth and how the fourth guy was finally able to shake himself out the funk caused by the loss of his wife before the story starts. Nothing else of value comes forth from this boring story. The only reason I may remember reading this book will be only because of how bad it was.
I had no real idea what was going on through much of this short, 185 page book, although I suspected what would happen in the end.
The writing was annoyingly terse with short statement type sentences. It felt like I was reading a diary more than a crafted story.
Much of the story was repetitious descriptions of food being eaten, plodding between the main house and the lab, sleeping, waking, arguing about whether to make a transit over and over and over again.
Looking back, this is story of reunification of four buddies after decades separated due to a prank three of the group pulled on the fourth and how the fourth guy was finally able to shake himself out the funk caused by the loss of his wife before the story starts. Nothing else of value comes forth from this boring story. The only reason I may remember reading this book will be only because of how bad it was.
May 8, 2025
I really wanted to like this book based on the blurb....."A group of physicists achieve something remarkable-a communication link to aliens". I am something of an amateur astronomer and a big fan of SETI (Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence) so was hoping for a homerun, but it didn't come close to reaching what I was hoping for. It took a LONG time for the book to gain any traction and almost all of the book was the various interactions between the physicists, scientists and government agencies involved. Thank you to the author, publisher and Net Galley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
May 24, 2025
This book really sounded like it had a lot of promise. And as soon as I received it, I opened it up and started reading. But it was painful and slow and written in such a boring manner that I struggled to want to finish it. I did finish it and about 3/4 of the way through It got a little better but still never lived up to its potential. I honestly would have DNF’d this book at about 50%, if I hadn’t committed to reading it for NetGalley and the publisher for a free and honest review.
did-not-finish
June 22, 2025I am going to have to discontinue this book. I made it about 10% .
I am having a lot of difficulty with the writing. Everything jumped around, and I was getting a headache trying to keep track of the story.
I won’t leave a star rating since I did not finish, but it was on the path of not having a good rating.
I am having a lot of difficulty with the writing. Everything jumped around, and I was getting a headache trying to keep track of the story.
I won’t leave a star rating since I did not finish, but it was on the path of not having a good rating.
November 29, 2025
Started off interesting but quickly spiraled into too many dream-like qualities and a sort-of 'Ground Hog Day' feel of repetition detailing the dull motions of each of the main characters days. I gave up. Life truly is way to short to waste on bad books.
September 8, 2025
Another amazing offering by Mr. Bunn!
Clean, intellectually stimulating with surprises and suspense. I'm a big fan!
Clean, intellectually stimulating with surprises and suspense. I'm a big fan!
October 2, 2025
This kept me engaged but it wasn’t a bit Christian. Nothing at all. No bad language or sex but nothing faith wise. Has aliens - which I don’t believe in, but it is fiction.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews