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Paradime

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From Alan Glynn, the award-winning author of Limitless, comes a novel of a twenty-first-century identity crisis that will thrill you from page one.Danny Lynch didn’t sign up for this, but right now, it’s all he’s got. Three weeks ago, he was working at a chow hall in Afghanistan and—more or less—doing fine. Sure, this meant living in a war zone, but he was never in the line of fire and, frankly, the money was hard to resist. Then Danny saw something he shouldn’t have, and now he’s back in New York City, haunted by what sent him home and lucky to be employed at all, even if that means dicing carrots for ten hours a day in a stuffy Midtown restaurant. The job’s one saving grace? A sight line from his prep station in the kitchen to a coveted corner table in the main room. For Danny, this is a window into the lives of some of Barcadero’s flashy clientele—and one evening, he sees a man who looks exactly like him.Teddy Trager is the visionary founder of the billion-dollar investment firm Paradime Capital. He has everything Danny never knew he wanted—cashmere suits, a sleek sports car . . . privilege, power—and the closer Danny looks at Trager the more fixated he becomes.

278 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 26, 2016

28 people are currently reading
889 people want to read

About the author

Alan Glynn

7 books216 followers
Alan Glynn is a graduate of Trinity College. His first novel, The Dark Fields, was released in March 2011 as the movie Limitless by Relativity Media. He is also the author of Graveland, Winterland and Bloodland, for which he won the 2011 Irish Book Award.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/alanglynn

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5 stars
86 (14%)
4 stars
191 (31%)
3 stars
233 (38%)
2 stars
73 (12%)
1 star
18 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 88 reviews
Profile Image for Jeanette.
4,091 reviews839 followers
December 12, 2020
WHEW! Just this last hour I put off an appointment for 2 hours in order to finish this book. No joke.
And I don't think I can ever remember doing that in my life before today. So why is this not a 5 star?
Because it is in one sense, but I'm stingy. And it's just the "start" too, IMHO. Because I predict this is going to go long. A trilogy, at least.

It's 4.5 star for the plot and the reveals. And 5 star in its pace, its originality (I don't think I have ever read a book upon the elites of governance, politics, business, society's arts, media celebs etc. that takes the direction this one took) and its depth of import to Danny's mind and perceptions. Which is no small trick in these 255 pages. But it's 4 on some of the connections and the ending, IMHO. It's not a "to be continued" but I wanted MORE.

For all of you men and women who crave the spy, the criminal worlds, the wartime espionage and distraction to infiltration fare, and those who key well into tech, science, media news feed mindset and marketing ploy modern genre- all of you will LOVE this novel, IMHO. It's different. Just as this election cycle in the USA is different. That much.

The foul language is minimal to Danny the cook. There is a small bit about 3/4ths of the way through that becomes meandering and somewhat confusing to name recall and context perception for the reader. You can't be "no dummy" on the uptake. This isn't a slouch read when you can just glide by on whimsical or lyrical descriptive copy by the page full. You'll need prime attentive skills, IMHO- without so much as a page rest.

There is a new man in thriller reading town who has published more than a few already, but I seemed to have missed him. And he lives in Ireland. Right this moment I'm going to put all his few past published novels on my TBR list. No surprise to me at all that one has been made into a movie already and also into the TV series, Limitless.

This book was a total serendipity find which sat in the pile for a week. Paperback form and sitting quite alone on the New shelf among a couple hundred others when I first noticed it. The cover is black background with two heads of blue and orange transfixed over each other, over-lapping. The first time I noticed this cover, I wondered at the spelling of PARADIME. And I did leave it there. It was still sitting there about 4 days later and so I knew I better take it. It seemed so lonely.

I could say much more about this book, but I won't. Pick it up without any strong identity to what you'll find. It will go better that way. Of course most of you know about the Dark Web already.

Lastly, I truly must read way, way too much. Because by page 200, I could only think of two possible shock reveals that might occur. And I was correct on one. Because this is quite out of the box on its whole frame conceptions and its intersect with present celeb reality, I surprised myself on my closeness to the book's ending reveal. Spoiler ahead if you want to know nothing at all.

It's not twins.
Profile Image for Leftbanker.
1,000 reviews467 followers
December 22, 2020
This was almost the same novel as Limitless, only not as much fun—and Limitless wasn’t much fun at all. The protagonists from both novels are more identical than Danny and Teddy Traeger. They are both underachieving beta males with a strong self-destructive streak and neither seem capable of extracting any joy out of life, no matter how many opportunities arise.

If you’ve read Limitless you know that the screen adaptation crosses out the author’s sad sack ending and replaces it with something a lot more upbeat and entertaining, something that is actually fun. The author should have given his first draft of this novel to those same script doctors so they could have punched it up a bit and made it less tedious and depressing.

It starts off going in one direction, then veers 180 degrees—or so it seemed—in another. Once Danny realizes that he looks like Traeger, it takes forever for anything to really happen. I wish this bit had been streamlined in favor of a little more interesting storytelling.

So, the couple is living in NYC, broke, in debt, and he just stops going to work? Maybe if Danny wasn’t quite so desperate, it would have played better, at least for me.

Somehow some dude who worked in a kitchen can suddenly pass himself off as a tech guru in interviews? Not even for a few minutes, not as dumpy and dopey as Danny was described.

I never really felt like continuing the reading process, not at any point in the novel. I thought that idea of being someone’s perfect double was an intriguing gimmick, unfortunately, I don’t think the finished product was very entertaining. My Three Star rating was very generous.
Profile Image for Ella Ford.
90 reviews8 followers
January 19, 2021
This is not the sort of book I would read. I must admit that I found this book really difficult to get into. The main character just wasn’t likeable. He annoyed me. But then after the first 50 pages or so all that changed and I was hooked. It made me wonder what I would do given I found my doppelgänger. I don’t think I would have gone to the extremes that Danny (MC) went too though!!  The twists and turns throughout kept me guessing, I never knew which way the story would go. Alan Glynn is definitely and author I am going to look for in the future.
Profile Image for Liz.
277 reviews3 followers
November 7, 2016
Thrilled to have discovered a new to me author. I'll be reading lots more by him. Loved that I couldn't predict how the book would go, couldn't predict the end. Lots of twists and lots to think about.
Profile Image for Victoria Jane.
681 reviews
March 16, 2021
Returning from a stint in the army with PTSD and information on a shocking government conspiracy, Danny is struggling to cope when he spots a man who looks just like him. Exactly like him, in fact...

This had a really great set up and a good pace that had me flying through it in a couple of a days.

It’s got some interesting twists and it’s a dark look at business, politics and the way that the two worlds intertwine.

Unfortunately, the writing style was too distanced for me and I struggled to connect or care about what was happening to Danny.

This was an okay read for me but it didn’t light my world on fire.
Profile Image for Betul Pehlivanli.
374 reviews14 followers
October 1, 2017
Limit Yok kitabını henüz okumadım ama filmini ve dizisini izlemiştim.Yazarın hiç kimseye benzemeyen bir tarzı var.Bu farklılık beni cezbetti.Bu anlamda kitabı tavsiye ediyorum.Komplo teorileri okumayı sevenlerin ilgisini çekeceğini düşünüyorum.Tek eksik yanı sonu çok aceleye getirilmiş ya da nasıl bitirileceği noktasında yazar belki de tıkandığı için acelece bitirmiştir.Orasını bilemiyorum ama 4/5
Profile Image for Pippa Skipper.
43 reviews8 followers
April 3, 2022
I quite enjoyed this one. It took a while to get into but after the first 50+ pages the pace picked up and I found myself hooked! It lost it again towards the end and the ending wasn't as great as I'd hoped but it was still an entertaining read for the most part.
Profile Image for Merve Akıncı.
70 reviews37 followers
November 7, 2017
Bayağı bir sürükleyiciydi.
İki günde biter elinizde söyleyeyim.
Bu kötü ikiz denilen bir olay var ya yurt dışında, onu anımsatan bir olay söz konusu.
Soluk soluğa okudum.
TAVSİYE!
Profile Image for Enzo.
928 reviews1 follower
October 2, 2016
"Paradime" again shows how good Alan Glynn mysteries can be. Danny Lynch a line cook who had taken a shortcut by enrolling and going to Afghanistan for the big pay check. After a major issue he witness Danny finds himself jobless and looking to be sued by his last employer if he whistle blows. This is when his first break happens a contractor of Gideon Logistics gives him a chance and gets him a job.
Danny starts working but he senses something is wrong almost immediately. But his real surprise is when he sees his doppelgänger. His name Teddy Trager a millionaire head of a VC firm Paradime. This is when it happens, Danny starts following in real life and online at his double. To the point one day he dresses as him and walks into the others office. Just t eventually walk into his life. The mysteries the paranoia.
Good story ...
Profile Image for ash | songsforafuturepoet.
363 reviews247 followers
January 8, 2017
3.5 stars. Interesting premise about a man who becomes obsessed with his richer, more successful lookalike woven into a taut story. I love how we follow the happenings through the unreliable eyes of the protagonist, the story twisted and told biased with suspicion and paranoia and a tinge of PTSD - that makes it feel like I'm living the story rather than being told it. Really well done there. The overall plot gets grander and bigger with each chapter but its depth stays the same, which makes the story feel contrived. Still, it's a short engaging read that captured my attention immediately and for a few days, with an enjoyable plot that delivers exactly what it promised.
Profile Image for Tamzin.
220 reviews
June 18, 2021
I don't know what to say about this book because literally nothing happened. The concept of finding someone who looks exactly like you and taking over their life is so interesting- I enjoyed Orphan Black and I thought that it would be a lot like that. However, I was wrong.
The big plot twist at the end is that SURPRISE two boys, around the same age, fathered by the same man, look the same! OMG! HOW? Biology bitch.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Sean Randall.
2,125 reviews54 followers
July 15, 2016
This seemed to be a variant on Heinlein's Double Star, to begin with. But it ended up falling out a little differently. I can't say I particularly took to the story, but the writing was good and I really enjoyed the Limitless film, so I shall check out more of Glynn's works.
87 reviews
March 7, 2022
I liked the idea of this book,but spent the first half of the book thinking where is this going, the middle got going.. then just as it was getting somewhere it seems the author got bored and just stopped.
Profile Image for morphologies.
31 reviews
November 20, 2016
The book is pretty great, I devoured it in two days, but the ending felt quite a bit rushed and unimaginative to me, although it was quite the plot twist in a sense.
Profile Image for Sharm.
76 reviews2 followers
January 16, 2021
“To look at me you wouldn’t think anything was wrong. To look at me you’d think I was normal. Which I am. But isn’t that the point? People have interior lives — I do, you do, everyone walking around me here on the street does — but the sad truth is we’re all riddled with fear and anxiety.”

We have all heard of doppelgängers but what does one do when coming face to face with the other? Danny Lynch and Teddy Trager lead very different lives, one’s a veteran suffering from PTSD and in debt as his last cheque was rejected/denied and the other is privileged with a beauty on one arm and riches in his other. Unfortunately Teddy Trager was struck in a hit and run and it rushes across Danny’s mind that perhaps, “all those that were his can now be mine too?”. Who could have wanted to bring harm to Teddy and now fate lies an open door in Danny’s hands, what is his next move?

Here’s the start of my review for Paradime, it’s simply messed up. That’s my first thought. Sadly there are quite a few areas that I was frustrated with; how can Kate and Danny still pretend to love one another when they have clearly drifted away – too far away? How can Nina be just FINE bearing the child of a stranger lookalike? The story is just all about doppelgängers at some point - the climax, the ending. Thats it?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
256 reviews1 follower
February 27, 2021
A kind of conspiracy mystery that is quite well done. (spoilers ahead) Unlike many, the narrator, Danny, is quite intelligent and sceptical at points where he should be. The story begins with Danny looking for work, after being fired from his job as a cook on a privately-run military base after he witnessed violence and killings of refugee workers there. But he then also receives a threatening letter from the corporation, indicating they may pursue him for damages. He meets up with their lawyer who seems to sort it out and even get Danny a job working in a better restaurant than he would normally have accessed. There one day he sees a man , a rich tycoon Teddy Treager who appears to look so much like him he could be his twin. At that point (and this is one of the less well motivated plot developments), Danny becomes obsessed with following Treager and later trying to look even more like him by buying an expensive suit etc. Eventually there are twists where the two meet, then Teddy dies in a road accident after Danny has been his passenger, and Danny takes over his identity – living in his penthouse, signing deals, giving interviews. Eventually he realises it has all been engineered by a CIA-related group connected with his military employers, who deliberately find genetic near doubles in order to control things they want to.
Profile Image for Bethan.
Author 3 books8 followers
October 6, 2023
Danny Lynch, a war veteran is finding it hard fitting back in society especially since he is unable to find a job. After witnessing a harrowing event he and the rest of his employers are sent home, without pay and possibly facing legal charges for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Facing mounting financial ruin and surviving on the pittance of his understanding girlfriend, Danny sets out to put matters right and do whatever he can to exterminate the futuristic threat fave them.

Danny meets a man who allows him to believe there is nothing to worry about, he's awarded money a lot than what was owed to him, he even finds a job and starts his life over.

Only then.. Teddy Trager walks into his life and it changes everything.

Life, Sabotage, obsession, impulse, self destruction, deceit and adventure takes Danny on a whirlwind ride, one where his dreams are offered to him, secret hidden dreams he didn't know he had and pathways he never would have thought could be opened up to him.

But will the tug of love be too much on his heart to cut ties? And isn't there a way in which he can have it all?


Super, crazy book to read. I have to admit although it was a little slow at the start it was interstejng. I loved eveything about it.
Except the ending.
Unless it's teasing us for a second book, then and only then will I say its one of my favourite books.
Profile Image for Michael.
311 reviews10 followers
July 16, 2017
Wow! That was just as good as Limitless! And it was good in the exact same exciting and frustrating way! These were books that really worked because they make the reader put himself in the same position as the main character and consider the choices he would make. Which makes the reading experience intensely personal.
The whole way through the book...which I was forced to read in one and half days from sheer need-to-know-what's-next... I found myself in dialogue with Danny.
"Hey, you should do..." "Why wouldn't you ask..." "OMG, you nitwit! Don't do..."
I alternated between being impressed with Danny's actions and responses because they wouldn't have occurred to me and being exasperated because, using my own store of info, I would have done things more effectively.
The ending was especially upsetting because it seemed unnecessarily grim and altogether too believable!
I look forward to reading more by Mr Glynn and shall certainly make myself tedious to my friends in my enthusiastic relentless recommending!
Profile Image for Onyx.
174 reviews
July 9, 2018
I'd probably give this more like 2 and a half stars. The narrator was great. I was never bored. Excellent concepts were presented, whistle-blowing, corporate espionage, homicide, body doubles, mistaken identity, biometric matching... But not a single one of these ideas seemed fleshed out. I had a hard time accepting the ending. I could already tell by the time I reached disc 6 and only had one more disc to go. 'How is there going to be enough time to finish this story?'
The characters, aside from the main character, seemed a bit flat. I found Kate to be annoying and I couldn't understand why Danny had feelings for her. He said he had feelings for her, but that just wasn't enough... I wanted to know 'why' he cared about her. After Danny's death she didn't give up on finding answers so it seemed that she at least cared for him and I suppose that was admirable.
I just wanted more. If this was the start of a series, I would go out right away to get the next book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Amanda Wells.
368 reviews11 followers
July 25, 2017
I actually was not terribly convinced on this book based on the blurb alone. But I'm really glad I gave this a go!
This is a really well realised sorry with twists that I honestly didn't predict. I knew there was something strange coming up, and I knew the basic parties involved in said twists, but I was honestly very surprised, right up to the end.

I listened to the audio version of this book, and it was well performed. The dialogue was believable, characters were well written, and there wasn't a point that I was bored at all.

I think I'm giving this a 4.5 ... it didn't contain anything that made me jump up and down, which is the only reason I didn't make this a 5. I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who likes a bit of a twist, a bit of suspense, and likes to think conspirationally.
Profile Image for Rubixcube.
199 reviews10 followers
January 15, 2018
4 stars!
Interesting read, which started off painstakingly slow and boring but developed into a clever and intriguing thriller. Basically, I started getting into the story when the mysterious conspriary theories started to emerge. The start of the book, unfortunately, was needed to build the backstory - so my advice is to stick this one out because it gets better because once the action hit full force I started to devour this book. I did like how this story was told from a slightly unhinged character with dreams to become richer - I felt like I was living the story instead of being a bystander who witnesses the story.
3 reviews
July 21, 2022
Super read that got me nicely through a day of airports and a three hour flight… but I had to stay up later than I wanted to finish it. A highly engaging set of plot turns and twists. Not sure I identified much with The main character with his willingness to leap over fences without thinking about consequences - but maybe that is a point - what choice does he have ? A subsistence existence with a unique opportunity to cross the social divide. We know about exclusion and gross inequality in the USA so now more than ever need to keep liberal democracy as central to the European way of life. Pay your taxes like Europeans and tip like Americans to keep spreading it around.
Profile Image for Book Grocer.
1,181 reviews39 followers
September 3, 2020
Purchase Paradime here for just $3!

Dealing with PTSD and identity, the award-winning Glynn has written a tense thriller that moves at a cracking pace. You will be taken by its twists and turns leading to a shocking moment. For those that are entertained by conspiracies or those that want to be delighted and thrilled, sometimes at the same time.

Elisa - The Book Grocer
Profile Image for One Booking Dad.
21 reviews2 followers
January 2, 2021
Paradime was difficult to start with, I found the first 70 pages of backstory to be a jumpy cacophony of different scenes and short dialogue. Perseverance paid off after page 70, the book literally became a page-turner! I didn't want to put it down.

The final pages play out like a film scene, detailed, directed and slightly predictable.

Overall the book was a good read if fast-paced is what you like then this is the book for you.
Profile Image for Ok Dan.
33 reviews
March 11, 2018
I rate this book 2.5. At the start of the book, I found it boring. As I continue reading this book, I started to like it a bit more. To be honest, the book needs to improve because I feel like Alan Gylnn was missing some details in the book.

So yeah, I probably won't read Alan Gylnn's book anymore because I dislike his writing style!!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 88 reviews

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