Interesting Premise
What do you do when faced with sudden loss? This book left me pondering how I would react or cope if there were a sudden change in my life, whether that be the loss of a loved one or something more mundane like not being able to have coffee in the morning. Would I get stuck in denial, trying to pretend like nothing happened? Would I try to find meaning in loss? Would I find someone or something to blame?
The premise of this book is that there’s a specific on/off switch that, when triggered, causes the immediate removal of “something” within the world. I didn’t pick up on any specific pattern for what would be removed, but the author definitely kept me guessing what was going to be taken out next. Some of the “things” were more conceptual in nature, others were behavioral, and still some were simply tools or everyday items.
Overall, I enjoyed the story because of the premise, but there were several times I was distracted or got annoyed by the repetitiveness or excessive descriptions (felt like word filler). There were times when the dialogue felt a bit rigid or forced, but it’s possible that could have been due to the writer’s style (the characters are in Britain, so maybe this was a nod to British humor).
There were a few typos and grammatical errors that confused me, so I had to re-read those parts a few times to decipher what the author intended to write. I also found the formatting a bit unintuitive, but perhaps that’s because I was reading the kindle version.
Overall, I thought it was a very interesting story. If it weren’t for the repetitiveness and over-explaining/word filler, I think I would have enjoyed it more. I would have also liked a little more development of the man in the suit, or some earlier hints of his presence. With some adjustments, I feel like this book could be a decent suspense/mystery/thriller.