Fifty Mice

by Daniel Pyne

What if a man is placed in the Federal Witness Protection Program against his will?
And doesn’t even know what he supposedly knows that merits a new name, a new identity, a new life?
 
 
Jay Johnson is an Average Joe, a thirty-something guy with a job in telephone sales, a regular pick-up basketball game, and a devoted girlfriend he seems ready to marry. But one weekday afternoon, he’s abducted on a Los Angeles Metro train, tranquilized, interrogated, and his paper trail obliterated. What did he see, what terrible crime—or criminal—is he keeping secret? It must be something awfully big. The trouble is, Jay has no clue.

Furious and helpless, and convinced that the government has made a colossal mistake, Jay is involuntarily relocated to a community on Catalina Island—which turns out to be inhabited mainly by other protected witnesses. Isolated in a world of strangers, Jay begins to realize that only way out is through the twisted maze of lies and unreliable memories swirling through his own mind. If he can locate—or invent—a repressed memory that might satisfy the Feds, maybe he can make it back to the mainland and his wonderful, even if monotonous, life.

Set in a noir contemporary L.A. and environs, Fifty Mice is a Hitchcockian thriller as surreal and mysterious as a Kafka nightmare. Chilling, paranoiac, and thoroughly original, it will have readers grasping to distinguish what is real and what only seems that way.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Audiobook, Thriller, Suspense, Mystery Thriller, Contemporary

290 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Daniel Pyne wanders restlessly between prose fiction and screenwriting. He is the author of Twentynine Palms A Hole in the Ground Owned by a Liar, Fifty Mice, Catalina Eddy, and his latest work, Water Memory, debuting February 1, 2021. Among Pyne's film credits are Backstabbing For Beginners, the remake of The Manchurian Candidate, Pacific Heights, Any Given Sunday and Fracture. Pyne's television work spans from the seminal hipster cop show Miami Vice to Amazon TV's longest running drama, Bosch. Pyne has a BA from Stanford University, where he toiled in economics but studied writing under Stegner fellows Chuck Kinder and John L‟heureux; he has an MFA from UCLA's Graduate School of Film, where he taught a seminar in screenwriting for a couple of decades. Born in Chicago, raised in Colorado, Pyne lives in Los Angeles and Santa Fe with his wife, rescue dog Luna, and an extremely sullen box turtle his grown children left in their wake.

Reviews

[Mauoijenn · Rating 1 out of 5]

*NetGalley book review*

Nope. I just could not get into this one. Its muddled in the middle and then kind of got off track, I feel.

[Kristine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Original review can be found at http://kristineandterri.blogspot.ca/2...

I received an advanced readers copy from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

After reading the synopsis I was really excited to dive into this book. It sounded like it would be an edge of your seat, high paced and thrilling story.

It is hard to describe how I felt when I began reading. Only one word comes to mind that comes close and that was...BORED. I found it incredibly slow and the characters extremely shallow and contemplated giving up on it. As I try to be a "glass half full" kind of girl, I refused to give up on it, thinking that it had to improve. A few early reviews were very positive so I convinced myself to power through it. It did improve as the story unfolded but only slightly.

The concept of the story is an interesting one but it just wasn't delivered to my liking. From the title of the book I expected some references to mice but the never ending rambling, facts and stories about mice were way too much and did nothing but make my mind wander to more exciting things like folding my laundry and scrubbing my floor. The whole naked mermaid stripper thing was a bit much as well. I think if 90% of the mice references were taken out and the mermaid parts were changed to something more riveting and less ridiculous, the story would have had a chance.

It just wasn't my cup of tea...

[Evie · Rating 5 out of 5]

"What happens when everything you've known is made a lie? And all the lies play true? Are you the sum of your memories, or a collection of consensual, verifiable facts?"

If you like books that keep you on the edge of your seat, make you paranoid and have you thinking you might be losing your mind, Fifty Mice is perfect for you. And if you happen to be into gut-wrenching psychological thrillers that really mess with your brain, then you simply can't afford to miss it.

Jay is just an average, unremarkable guy who lives his life entirely on the surface. He has a boring job and a fiancé he has trouble fully committing to. And then, in a blink of an eye, everything gets flipped inside out. Jay gets kidnapped and thrown into a witness protection program (completely against his will). New identity, new home (isolated island community), new family, new everything. Why? Because he knows something. He is a witness. His testimony is crucial. The only problem is Jay has no clue what it is he knows, or if he's even the right guy, all he knows is he needs to get out.

Fifty Mice is an enigma. A riddle. A mystery wrapped up in layers of lies and half-truths. Reading this book made me feel like drowning in quicksand - the harder I wrecked my brain for answers, desperately trying to make sense of what was happening, the more confused, paranoid and panicky I felt. I couldn't breathe normally. I felt sticky and uncomfortable. I was hopelessly hooked.

Jay's fractured and, therefore, unreliable memory adds to the suffocating atmosphere of this story. The writing is very good. It's straight-forward and easy to read, though not entirely free of existential and philosophical themes. Some passages - particularly those revolving around the themes of memory, past, identity, belonging - really stay with you for a long time. They resonate deep within and force you to pause and think about them. There are also moments of true heartbreak and gut-wrenching discoveries buried deep in the flesh of this novel. And those are some powerful moments - they're like punches; they sting.

The way this book is written makes you feel like you're reading a movie script - and it's really no surprise since Pyne is a screenwriter (Fractured, The Sum Of All Fears). I will be very surprised if this doesn't get optioned for a movie adaptation. It would make an awesomely twisted movie - think Shutter Island meets Memento meets Bourne Identity. Who wouldn't want to watch that?

Fifty Mice has some really beautifully rendered, captivating scenes. My favorite is hands down the one in which Jay tries to escape by crawling into an air vent. It was absolutely priceless. I burst out laughing a few times - it was absurd and beyond hilarious - but I also felt Jay's desperation to get away. I understood how trapped he felt. Just like a mouse in a maze. It was brilliant.

Pacing wise, the first 200 pages are on the slower side - the author is weaving his spiderweb, setting his trap, drawing you in and making sure you stay there. This part is more psychological, more atmospheric and gritty.. You really have no idea what is going on, you begin to suspect every one - and I mean EVERYONE - and some really crazy conspiracy theories are popping into your brain - a different one every chapter - until you are rendered completely clueless and questioning your own sanity. And then the last 100 pages or so are pure insanity - action-packed, blood-boiling, mind-spinning, heart-crushing insanity. The only thing I guess fell a bit flat for me, was the ending itself. It was a good ending - very fitting and well thought-out - but I kind of hoped for it to pack a stronger punch. However, while not as thoroughly exhilarating as the events preceding it, it was still a satisfying conclusion to a very good story.

[Mary Ann Olsztyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really looking forward to reading this book. I enjoy watching people, in the grocery store checkout lines, resturants, department stores. You can tell an awful lot about people by the choices they make. People can be fascinating to watch. I would also like to state that I was given this book to read for a free review and I want to be fair but honest. I'm not going to rehash the story because you can get that off the book description. This book is approximately 290 pages long. About 50 pages are interesting and that comes at the very end of the book. I did think the ending was very clever. In the end though, I would have to say that I think this book would have worked better as a 50 page short story. As for the rest of the book, I was frankly bored throughout most it. I even found myself wondering about midway through the book, "What is the point of writing a story unless you have something interesting to say or you have a good story to tell!" Books and movies should be entertaining.

[Dave · Rating 1 out of 5]

The publisher's synopsis drew me to this book, using words like "Hitchcockian." A man is abducted and entered into the witness protection program, all the while claiming that he didn't know what they thought he had seen.

Sorry. Hitchcock's suspense was real and plausible. This didn't hold up. I kept reading because I figured that there was going to be a twist or explanation that explained some of the implausibility. Nope. Not for me, anyway. The explanation was pretty much what I was expecting and left me feeling that the true facts of the situation just didn't justify the whole charade by the Feds. And then there were the minor annoyances that a good editor should have caught. One minute, he's hobbling on a sprained ankle, the next he's running on foot trying to catch a speeding car. Just sloppy.

[Martha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Though the story line on this one sounded good I only made it about 1/3 of the way through. Jay, the hero of this tale, made no sense to me. He seemed to be going through life like a sleepwalker, yet his thoughts are much sharper than the man he seems to be. Then there's the parallel of lab mice that had me scratching my head.

[Terri · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the most confusing, go-nowhere, boring books I have ever read. Your don't know what is real, what is fake, what might have happened, what might a dream...and the ending wasn't worth the getting there.

[Christine Woinich · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took a while for me to get into this story as it was a little confusing. As it progressed, I became involved with the characters. Who was lying? Who was spying? I loved how a little girl, Helen, could get through to a live-day-to-day type of person, Jay, and give him something to actually live for. There were many twists to this story. You would start to think you had it figured out but then something would come up. As the book was coming to a close, it never really wound down, I had to keep going to see where the author was taking us. I even began to suspect the reluctant hero and never saw the complete picture. This is a good read.

[Rieta · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this is the lowest rating I've ever given a book I actually completed. Jay, the hero, was simply not fleshed out very well. I didn't care enough about him to really get on board with his success. There was no development between him and the lady he was thrown in with as a witness protection wife so when the end starting developing I just didn't get where she was coming from. The relationship with Helen, the child, was somewhat more developed and believable. The author also liked to interject some unique, rarely used words - seemingly for fun? The premise was excellent but the follow through - weak!

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the premise for this novel and felt the author did a plausible job of pulling it off. The beginning of the book was leading me to believe that the book would easily hit four stars. As we got to the conclusion I was getting a bit bunched up. The author kind of lost it with this reader using a lot of twists and the repressed memories that I began to question the reality of. Perhaps the ending may work for you, and I hope it does, and the book will grab four stars from you. For me it was just a bit over three stars. So overall I did like it just the ending was a bit flat and off for me.

[Kristi Richardson · Rating 5 out of 5]

“What happens when everything you have known is made a lie? And all the lies play true? Are you the sum of your memories, or a collection of consensual verifiable facts?”

This book was given to me by the Penguin Books First to Read program.

The book starts off strong and continues it's fast paced maze from Los Angeles to Catalina Island and back and forth from the past to the future. Sometimes you have to remember to breathe! The tension is felt throughout and it's very hard to see any light at the end of the tunnel for Jay.

Jay is a normal everyday guy who out of the blue is kidnapped and placed in the Witness Protection Program along with a fake family. Why is he there, did he do something or see something he shouldn't have?

He meets Ginger as his new wife and Helen, his mute daughter who was also traumatized so badly she no longer speaks. Are they for real or are they just actors playing the game? There are so many questions running through this book that it's hard to keep your head straight. Oh, and remember to stop and take a breath.

Rest assured everything is tied up by the end of the book and there is a definite ending unlike so many of the newer books.

This book is destined to be a movie and it will be a great one!

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

First off, I was given an advanced reading copy for this story and several things i had a problem with could have been because of this.... That being said.
I think this book had a great plot just fell a little short for me. The ending does get exciting and clear things up. But just a bit confusing through the middle for me. Granted, that's part of the suspense I guess. I had a hard time following conversations (who was actually saying what), which kind of confused me at times. Plus you never really know (until the end) exactly what's happening. (thus the suspense)
Overall a decent read. Not my favorite, but not horrible.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this Hitchcockian-vibe novel, mostly for the way it explores craziness, distrust, paranoia, corruption and science caught me from the start. The bad thing is that once we achieved the climax of the story, everything was kinda predictable... But still, I loved Pyne's writing and world - building, creating this noir L.A. and many characters that made the book something you need to read carefully, or else you'd be lost... me happy with this book!

[Mitch Wilson · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the prose is visual and descriptive, the flow and plot are that of a sexed up, pseudo-intellectual bullshit artist who somehow got a book published with something near 20 typos in it.

Better as a short story than a novel, this “thriller” plods along before culminating in some of the worst written action I’ve had to parse in a while. While the metaphors are compelling, the payoffs don’t settle the debt that added up slogging through this thing.

Woof.

[Icy_Space_Cobwebs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review hidden until publication date.


REVIEW FIFTY MICE by Daniel Pyne

This novel runs very rapidly, in fact it would make a quite suspenseful film. It's packed to the max with action, adventure, danger and thrills. I just couldn't elicit any empathy in my soul for Protagonist Jay. I wouldn't wish on him the troubles he experienced. I just couldn't sympathize, either.

[Chris · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read 200 pages, why, I don't know. I don't even care where it's going.

[Melissa Price · Rating 4 out of 5]

by Daniel Pyne

SPOILER FREE


Full disclosure: At my request I was granted access to a digital ARC of this book through Penguin Books First To Read Program.

Many thanks to Penguin books, Blue Rider Press and of course the Author Daniel Pyne for the awesome opportunity to read this early. It was a ride that I'm spinning from as I type this. One of fun, crazy, puzzling and awesome. In many of my updates I left a few words to describe this story and it never let up on any of those words whether together or separate from each other. I also referred to it as having entered into "The Twilight Zone", or maybe falling down a rabbit hole. Either way it was a trip I won't forget.

I 'just' finished and though it was an easy book to rate. I knew through most of it what that would be, with a bit of wavering back and forth, however I was waiting to see what the final page brought to me and at its conclusion went with four stars.

Final thoughts......I definitely have to wrap my head around this story and how puzzling it was/is. That's a great thing for my liking! It has its share of confusion along the way as I see others have had the same feelings. There are still some pieces that I'm trying to connect, but I can say it is a book I'll most definitely read again and even though some parts weren't clear or easy to decipher it was fantastic and fun! It had its basic fiction storyline with many layers underneath if you open up your creative side to see the depth under the seemingly "easy read".

Overall I loved it. Was it slow at times? Yes. Was it worth getting through the slowness? Without a doubt! The MC, in all the good and bad, Jay was one whom I Loved, questioned, didn't love, pondered, uncertain, loved again, disliked a tiny bit, and ultimately loved him in the characters full entirety by the end of the story. I would have liked to see more of two other characters, especially Jay and his interaction with Helen, however it was still enough to have fed me times of chuckling, fun, suspense, a few shocker jaw dropping moments, some WTH is going on thoughts, defintely some tears of sweetness and sadness came to my eyes and many layers under the basic layer of the story, a fantastic ending, IMHO, and 'much' to think about.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes the elements I've just listed above, as a book that can be read on a lighter note while still making it enjoyable, as well as anyone who wants a story to make them think further to put all the pieces of this puzzle (or travel through the maze), together. I prefer the latter and that's why when the book is officially released I'll be grabbing a copy of the final print because it's just one of those books in which every time you read it you discover something new.

~*Happy Reading & Don't get trapped in the Maze*~ :)

Release Date: December 30, 2014!! Pre-order available now!!


Product information:
Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Blue Rider Press
Release Date: December 30, 2014
ISBN-10: 0399171749
ISBN-13: 978-0399171642

Kindle Product Details:
Pages: 290 (955 KB)
Publisher: Blue Rider Press
Sold By: Penguin Group (USA) LLC
Release date: December 30, 2014
ASIN: B00ISSEOIYY

Amazon kindle link (available for pre-order):

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0399...

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes it takes the strangest situations for us to figure out what it is we want in life--even if that something is what we thought we'd never want.

To read this, and other book reviews, visit my website: http://jenpaul13.wix.com/makinggoodst....

In Fifty Mice by Daniel Pyne, Jay, Johnson is nabbed from a train platform on his normal commute home from work at a telemarketing firm. He is then forcefully thrust into Witness Protection, where he begins to incessantly thinking about lab mice from his previous job and finds parallels between the mice in the testing maze and his life, as well as the general human condition. While in Witness Protection, Jay is coupled with Ginger and her daughter Helen, who doesn't talk to any one. Jay stubbornly adheres to his identity and not the one provided for him in Witness Protection because he maintains that he never saw what they think he might have seen. As time passes, Jay's defenses weaken around Helen and he gets her to do what no one else had been able to--talk.

The concept of toeing the line between reality and suggested memories and the fallibility of the human mind and the power of emotions is an intriguing one as it has plentiful possibilities. I thought it was interesting to see how people can seemingly change their fundamental ways through consistent interaction with new people--people who will have a powerful impact on them and alter the way they perceive the world around them, much like lab mice have their perception modified in the name of science. With the various avenues that the story could have taken, it didn't overreach its bounds to try too hard to be something greater. The text was clean and the language was fittingly pensive in nature for Jay's various tangential thoughts; however, there was some inconsistency with the names of characters and their usage throughout the narrative.

Overall, I'd give it a 4 out of 5 stars.

[Beth · Rating 1 out of 5]

I made a valiant effort to read this book because it was for book club. I managed to get half way through and realized I wasn't going to finish in time for book club so I stopped reading and watched a Midsommer Murders instead. This book was so un-compelling that I'd rather watch comfort TV. The only character I cared even a bit for was the girl Helen -- otherwise I would have been okay with them all dying. The prose style was choppy and had a lot of run on sentences so it was hard to follow. I see that some people loved this -- but it just wasn't for me. Those who read it spent most of book club trying to figure out what actually happened at the end. I just didn't care what happened.

[Johnny G. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This "novel" at 285 pages, could have been so much more. Maybe if the author had taken the time to write a full- length story, he could have developed characters that were more likable and believable. Catalina island provides Jay with the perfect getaway into his witness protection program, except he doesn't know why the Feds want him to be protected in the first place. It has a promising premise, but like so many other people commented, it becomes muddled with the flashbacks and sparsely-written prose.

[Darlene · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed in this book, I expected it to be more of a thriller. It was boring at times, confusing, and very hard to follow. I really had to push myself to read the entire book, and I did that just to find out what happens to main character in the end.

[Left Coast Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really appreciate Pyne's effort to write a mystery that isn't exactly like the other two million mystery stories clogging up the shelves. This book is quite original in its presentation and, in my opinion, is a success. I look forward to reading more from Daniel Pyne.

[Marian · Rating 4 out of 5]

What if you were put in Witness Protection...and you didn't know why? This is a really gripping thriller.

[Emilyx · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having never cared for Kafka, it's no wonder I failed to enjoy Fifty Mice.

The novel is about Jay Johnson, a nondescript everyguy who becomes trapped in a nightmarish scenario. The idea is intriguing, but Pyne's execution misses the mark spectacularly. My number one gripe with the novel is the prose, which often reads as superfluous and self-aggrandising. Plotwise, the novel drags (dnf at p200), and for the most part, the protagonist can't support his own story.

A note. At times, Pyne's writing will simultaneously confuse and impress me — the rhythm is uniquely clinical. As I got further into the novel, I realized that Pyne tries to pass off lazy writing as a style.

An analysis:

"Purling plainsong of the free market. Everyone rigged with Bluetooth phone headsets and false bravado, scared shitless that today won't be the day, their brittle sales conversations overlapping in a din, and Jay remembered how mice are highly social animals who speak at frequencies humans can't hear; play, wrestle, love, sleep curled up together, because without companionship they get lonely and depressed, anxious, lost."

(1. "Purling plainsong of the free market"? Purple prose alert. 2. A quick google search reveals Pyne copies the last line straight off the PETA website, almost verbatim: Mice and rats are highly social animals. They communicate with each other using high-frequency sounds [...] They play together, wrestle, and love sleeping curled up together. Much like us, if they do not have companionship, they can become lonely, anxious, depressed, and stressed. 3. The entire novel is centered around the idea of humans as mice but the foundational metaphor is weak?)

2 stars for an interesting premise and a weak execution.

[Sandie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Imagine that you are whisked away from your life to enter the Witness Protection program. No more house you've painstakingly decorated, no more job you understand and maybe even love, no more friends you've known for years. That's Jay Johnson's situation but with one twist. He's been brought in as a witness to a murder and he doesn't remember anything about it.

He is whisked off to a safe house on Catalina Island which sounds nice until you can't leave. He is housed with a woman and her daughter to pretend that they are a happy family but the woman is definitely not happy about it. The girl is mute, a legacy from the crime they are running from.

As Jay tries to figure out what happened the night of the murder and if he truly witnessed it, life goes on. He is given a mundane job renting videos. He goes daily to see a psychiatrist who tries to uncover Jay's memory. He plots how to escape and get back to his life.

Daniel Pyne is well known in Hollywood. He is a screenwriter of such movies as The Manchurian Candidate, Fracture and Pacific Heights as well as working on tv series such as Miami Vice and Alcatraz. This is his third novel. His work in a visual medium is apparent as the scenes are written in such a way that the reader can imagine how they would translate to film. But the reader may find themselves confused for much of the book as they try along with Jay to figure out what is going on which makes things difficult to follow. This book is recommended for mystery readers.

[Kimberly Campillo · Rating 3 out of 5]

The theme of Daniel Pyne’s “Fifty MIce” is revealed through Hermann Ebbinghaus’ correlation between the human sensations, feelings, ideas with the existence of the stars below the horizon. For example, when he is talking about his contribution to experimental psychology, he says, ”Mental states of any kind,-sensations, feelings, ideas,-which were at one time present in consciousness and then have disappeared from it, have not with their disappearance absolutely ceased to exist. Although the inwardly-turned look may no longer be able to find them, nevertheless they have not been utterly destroyed and annulled, but in a certain manner they continue to exist, stored up, so to speak, in the memory. We cannot, of course, directly observe their present existence, but it is revealed by the effects which come to our knowledge with a certainty like that with which we infer the existence of the stars below the horizon”(47). This relates to my topic sentence because Hermann Ebbinghaus is trying describe the way the mind functions in regards to memory. He compares the stars below the horizon to mental state of being in the general population. The meaning of the stars in the horizon means that the stars are always hidden from our view but we know they are still there. Similarly, in the mind, even though we aren’t feeling a specific emotion at the moment, that doesn’t mean that the feeling is gone from our memory.

[Joshua Faber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Either this book got better between the ARCs and the final version, or I just liked it better than many readers, because I thought the beginning was taut and exciting, a quick dive into a kafka-esque world of "protective custody" where it isn't really clear who is being protected from whom. Even the name "Jay Johnson" is clever, a homophone for the former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson. For a while, the book keeps it up and everything works. I could seriously quibble with the timing of the two big flashback reveals, with the one from the far past executed a little more gracefully than the one from the near past, but possibly fitting into the story worse. That said, things were still going along nicely until the ending, which is basically a complete muddle. It's not just inconclusive or ambiguous, it's just a muddle, with unclear character motivations, backstories etc., seemingly because the author left out some backstory somewhere and never got around to filling it in elsewhere. This was very close to being a better book; it just isn't.

[Marc Cullison · Rating 3 out of 5]

An intriguing book and well worth the time to read it. I did have a problem with the cryptic prose, at times so confusing I had to go over it twice. Fascinating plot and good characters. Another problem I had was with the idea that a handgun firing a bullet into a person can knock him off of his feet. A simple lesson in physical science will show that a lightweight bullet traveling at high speed has much less momentum (inertia) than the human body. If the bullet strike knocked a person off of his feet, then the person firing the pistol would also be knocked off of his feet. I get so tired of seeing this crap in books.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

At times the book drew me in left me wondering what was to come next. At others I felt lost in the twists and turns. The thought of being taken against your will, by the government, your life erased and new one created for you, is slightly terrifying and the main reason I wanted to read this book. Several characters were more than just likable, but others were too superficial, not fleshed out enough. Overall, I just didn't get much out of this read. Too many twists and turns left me not quite believing the story.

[Cathy Houde · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm conflicted about Fifty Mice. Parts of it I really enjoyed, they were fast paced, kept me guessing with twists. Other parts (mainly the first half) were hard to get through; often slow, confusing and failed to connect some of the characters for me.
I wasn't always sure where the story was headed but overall I did like the book.