The Planck Factor

by Debbi Mack

Thoroughly intriguing! A real page-turner." — Zoë Sharp, author of the best-selling Charlie Fox series


On a dare, grad student Jessica Evans writes a thriller, creating a nightmare scenario based upon the theory that the speed of light is not a constant—one that has a dark application. Her protagonist (the fiancé of a scientist killed in a car crash) is pursued by those who want to use the theory to create the world’s most powerful weapon.


However, Jessica is soon running for her life when events mimic that of her protagonist. She’s threatened by terrorist conspirators who intend to use the knowledge to create an event that causes mass destruction—even threatens the global extinction of all life. As the clock ticks down, Jessica must outwit the enemies and avert an apocalypse.


MORE REVIEWS:
“Does art hold a mirror to life? Or does life mirror art? New York Times best-selling author Debbi Mack builds this surprising thriller layer upon layer with an ending that will make you want to read it all over again.”
— Donna Fletcher Crow, author of AN ALL-CONSUMING FIRE, The Monastery Murders


“Mack takes her reader on a roller-coaster ride with science, imagination, and a terrible possibility.”
— Peg Brantley, author of the Aspen Falls Thriller series


"[A] sleek tour-de-force exercise in Hitchcockian suspense about domestic terrorism, in which the McGuffin is a novel-within-the-novel and the novelist and her work intersect in unpredictable ways. Reality and fiction clash and spar for supremacy until the final paragraph."
— W.D. Gagliani, author of WOLF'S BLIND (The Nick Lupo Series) and SAVAGE NIGHTS


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Debbi Mack is the New York Times bestselling author of the Sam McRae Mystery Series. She's also published one young novel. In addition, she's a Derringer-nominated short story writer, whose work has been published in various anthologies.


Debbi hosts a podcast called the Crime Cafe, where she interviews crime, suspense, and thriller authors.


Debbi is also a screenwriter and aspiring indie filmmaker. Her first screenplay, The Enemy Within, made the Second Round in the 2014 Austin Film Festival screenplay contest and semifinals in the 2016 Scriptapalooza contest. Debbi has also adapted her first novel, IDENTITY CRISIS, into a screenplay. The book is currently under option by a film producer.


A former attorney, Debbi has also worked as a journalist, librarian, and freelance writer/researcher. She enjoys walking, cats, travel, movies and espresso.

178 pages, ebook

Published October 29, 2016

About the author

Debbi Mack is the New York Times bestselling author of the Sam McRae Mystery Series. She's also published a young adult novel called INVISIBLE ME and a thriller entitled THE PLANCK FACTOR.

She's the author of DAMAGED GOODS, the first book in a series about a female Marine veteran sleuth named Erica Jensen, which was nominated for a Shamus Award. The sequel is called FATAL CONNECTIONS, and she's currently working on the third novel. She's also written short stories, including one nominated for a Derringer. In addition, she writes screenplays and is interested in filmmaking.

Debbi hosts and produces a podcast called the Crime Cafe, in which she interviews crime, suspense, and thriller authors: http://www.debbimack.com/crime-cafe/

Debbi co-hosts and produces Dark and Twisted Alleys: A Film Noir Podcast with crime and horror author F.R. Jameson.

Debbi is a "recovering lawyer", who enjoys reading, movies, travel, baseball, walking and espresso--not necessarily in that order. She and her husband live in Columbia, MD, with their family of cats.

Reviews

[AnisaAnne · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can follow my reviews on WordPress https://anisabookreviews.wordpress.co...

This book was warp speed and brilliant!

The speed of light =299 792 458 m / s or is it?

What happens if the speed of light is not a constant but an average? The implications can be disastrous. And the premise of Jessica's new novel, which she is unaware is her new found danger. But the truth is stranger than the fiction.

Jessica Evans, a Grad student, is writing a suspense novel as a challenge to create fiction worthy of being called literary. As she is carving out the manuscript, The Planck Factor, she starts to see similar patterns and events manifest in her own life.

The Planck Factor is narrated by Jessica and alternating seamlessly with Alexis, her protagonist of her book. The chapters are short and terse as we see the events unfold in real time with Jessica, and also her main character Alexis. As the chapters progress, Jessica's life seems to be imitating her work. Someone is watching her. In Jessica's novel, also named The Planck Factor, Alexis is being followed by a group-perhaps in regarding her dead fiancee's work. Daniel was a researcher in a lab but never shared the specific details of what he was working on with Swede, his partner. What they were working on was something secretive and valuable to warfare and the future of quantum physics. All of this information for Jessica's book came from someone. And this someone is dead. Jessica is the Alexis in the novel and now fears for her life as she knows what her protagonist knows: the Axis of Evil. Soon, NSA, FBI, and a terror group will be looking for Jessica and the Planck Factor.

The Planck Factor starts off being action pack very early in the story, without giving you a chance to appreciate the characters. The excitement may have intentionally crafted to have the book unfold along side Jessica and the reader. The novel was a fast paced read, and the chapters had hooks that made you want to read every other one. I enjoyed Jessica's internal discussion of the process as she is laying down her words. From a reader's perspective, it was extremely educational, for example, how the backstory as powerful as it may be can slow down the narrative. The science of physics was a draw to the novel, and it did not disappoint. I love a story where I have to google information to understand a certain aspect of the plot, appealing to the geek in myself.

The Geek Factor:
Planck Factor: E = hf where (E) is the energy of the particle which varies directly with its frequency (f). Planck constant (h) is 6.63 × 10-34 Js and central in quantum mechanics. It describes the behavior of photons and waves on the atomic scale. It is hidden and visible and at the same time and provides valuable information about the universe we live. We only see a fraction of the world.

If you want a fast and satisfying read, I highly recommend The Planck Factor. Thank you, NetGalley, BooksGoSocial and the author Debbi Mack for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Translator Monkey · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Implausibility Factor. This just did not work for me on any level. The artificial dialogue, the contrived plotlines, the coincidences and luck that the author seemingly tried to use as the paste to keep this thing from flying off the rails. Your results may be much different than mine; I didn't read any other reviews or even see how many average stars it's achieved - I don't like "poisoning the well" when it comes to opening a book with no knowledge of the plot or expectations; I say this to spell out that I may very well be in the minority in my somewhat harsh review. For the author's sake, I hope that's the case. It was just absolutely not for me.

[Barb Taub · Rating 4 out of 5]

During Magic 101, my one (required) semester of college physics, the professor assured our class of history and lit majors that there was no such thing as calculus in the real world.

For the most part, that works for me. But every now and then something reminds me that I’m only seeing part of the universe.

Most recently, it was reading The Planck Factor by Debbi Mack, which asks a basic question: what if Einstein got that whole e=mc2 thing wrong? What if the velocity of light was NOT a constant, and thus nuclear devices could be n-times more powerful?

Setting aside the dubious science here, the obvious answer (for a writer anyway) is that government agencies, spies, supervillains, terrorists, and—scariest of all—competing academics would kill for those results. In The Planck Factor, that’s the premise that young grad student Jessica Evans uses as the basis for her first novel. As the book alternates between Jessica’s story and that of her protagonist Alexis, Jessica starts to see terrifying similarities between her own situation and that of her fictional creation. Both are in danger from unknown forces, forced to flee for their lives, while family and friends are also in mortal peril.

At the heart of both stories is the random scientific “fact” that Jessica extrapolated from a chance footnote. In her novel, that is enough to put Alexis into danger. In Jessica’s real world, research for the novel has cost her friend’s life and sent his killers after her.

There were so many things I liked about this little novella-length book. The converging chapters of Jessica’s life and the developing story of her novel were nicely done. The deliberate similarities between her character and that of her creation might have been confusing, but they were cleverly set apart by the use of different fonts and chapter headings. Then there were the sections from the mysterious Kevin, whose role isn’t revealed until the last pages. And there was a final twist in the very last page that I never saw coming.

Having said that, I have to admit there were things that bothered me as I was reading. The science itself was threadbare and unsubstantiated—but I could live with that. The thinly-veiled but constant discussion of the writing process was annoying in its determination to state (and restate) the obvious. But, given the fact that Jessica is a graduate student writing a thesis on “how genre fiction could have literary value”, I suppose I could also live with that. Even the obvious plot holes such as the observed similarities between ‘fictional’ Alexis and ‘real’ Jessica which seem so significant but are ultimately never explained by anything other than coincidence might just be a literary device. Smaller plot sink holes in the fictional book (such as the part where Alexis is supposed to put herself in grave danger in order to find out where some notes are hidden—while the person who hid them was actually standing right next to her) could be explained by the fictional novel being a work in progress.

But there were two things that troubled me. The first was the gigantic and (as far as I could tell) completely unsubstantiated leap where government agencies go from worries about what might be in Jessica’s book to closing down the Golden Gate Bridge and preparing for ‘the biggest catastrophe in modern history’—without a single fact or substantiated clue to back it up. There were further logic-less leaps that left me scratching my head (but I don’t want to mention them for fear of spoilers).

The second thing that annoyed me was that I just didn’t like Jessica. She came across as self-centered and somewhat whiny. When she gets a phone warning and starts to worry that someone is stalking her, she doesn’t hesitate to go straight to the police. Twice. But when a friend who was trying to impress her by helping with her research is killed, she “doesn’t want to get involved”.

By now, I was down several stars in my appreciation of the novel. And then I came to that last page with its stunning final twist. Wait a minute… Does that mean what I think it means? I read it several times. Then I went back and re-read several sections of the book. And I realized that the entire story within a story had been turned inside out. Back went the stars.

Overall, I’d say The Planck Factor might not be a perfect book, but it does have a perfect final twist.


I reviewed The Planck Factor for Rosie’s Book Review Team

**I received this book from the publisher or author to expedite an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.**

[Emmie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a good piece of sci-fi thriller. A bit confusing at one stage because it is a story within a story within a story. Once you get your head wrapped around that its very gripping.

[Olga Miret · Rating 4 out of 5]

For readers with a good attention span who enjoy Hitchcockian suspense set within the world of science and books about writers I write this review as a member of Rosie’s Book Review Team and thank Rosie Amber and the author for providing me with an ARC copy of this book that I freely decided to review.
This thriller (technothriller according to Amazon) tells a complex story, or rather, tells several not so complex stories in a format that can make readers’ minds spin. A thriller about a student who decides, on a dare, to write a genre book (a thriller) and whose life becomes itself another thriller, one that seems to mix spies, conspiracies, terrorism, the possibility of the end of the world, and it all relates to quantum physics. (Or, as she describes it in the book: “…a suspense story with a hint of science fiction and a touch of espionage at its heart.”) The parallelisms between the story of Jessica Evans (the protagonist) and that of her fictional character, Alexis, become more convoluted and puzzling as the book progresses and the astounding coincidences will ring some alarm bells until we get to the end and… It is a bit difficult to talk about the book in depth without giving away any spoilers, but I’ll try my hardest.
This book will be particularly interesting for writers, not only because of its storytelling technique (talk about metafiction) but also because of the way the main protagonist (a concept difficult to define but Jessica is the one who occupies the most pages in the book and her story is told in the first person) keeps talking (and typing) about books and writing. No matter how difficult and tough things get, she has to keep writing, as it helps her think and it also seems to have a therapeutic effect on her. It is full of insider jokes and comments familiar to all of us who write and read about writing, as it mentions and pokes fun at rules (“Show, don’t tell. Weave in backstory. Truisms, guides, rules, pointers—call them what you will… And adverbs. Never use an adverb.”) and also follows and at the same time subverts genre rules (we have a reluctant heroine, well, two, varied MacGuffins and red herrings, mysteries, secrets, traitors and unexpected villains… and, oh yes, that final twist).
Each one of the chapters starts with the name of the person whose point of view that chapter is told about —apart from Alexis’s story, told in the third person, written in different typography, and usually clearly introduced, there are chapters from the point of view of two men who follow Jessica, so we know more than her, another rule to maintain suspense, and also from the point of view of somebody called Kevin, who sounds pretty suspicious— and apart from Jessica’s, all the rest are in the third person, so although the structure is somewhat complex and the stories have similarities and a certain degree of crossover, there is signposting, although one needs to pay attention. Overall, the book’s structure brought to my mind Heart of Darkness (where several frames envelop the main story) or the Cabinet of Dr Caligary (although it is less dark than either of those).
As you read the story, you’ll probably wonder about things that might not fit in, plot holes, or events that will make you wonder (the usual trope of the amateur who finds information much easier than several highly specialised government agencies is taken to its extremes, and some of the characteristics of the writing can be amusing or annoying at times, although, whose story are we reading?) but the ending will make you reconsider the whole thing. (I noticed how the characters never walked, they: “slid out”, “shimmied out”, “pounded”, “bounded down the steps”, “clamored down”…) As for the final twist, I suspected it, but I had read several reviews by other members of the team and kept a watchful eye on the proceedings. I don’t think it will be evident to anybody reading the story totally afresh.
The novel is too short for us to get more than a passing understanding and connection with the main character, especially as a big part of it is devoted to her fictional novel, (although the first person helps) and there are so many twists, secrets and agents and double-agents that we do not truly know any of the secondary characters well enough to care. Action takes precedence over psychological depth and although we might wonder about alliances, betrayals and truths and lies, there are no complex motivations or traumas at play.
Due to the nature of the mystery, the novel will also be of interest to those who enjoy stories with a scientific background, particularly Physics (although I don’t know enough about quantum physics to comment on its accuracy). A detailed knowledge of the subject is not necessary to follow the book but I suspect it will be particularly amusing to those who have a better understanding of the theory behind it. (The author does not claim expertise and thanks those who helped her with the research in her acknowledgements). The book also touches on serious subjects, including moral and ethical issues behind scientific research and the responsibility of individuals versus that of the state regarding public safety. But do not let that put you off. The book is a short, fast and action-driven story that requires a good attention span and will be particularly enjoyed by writers and readers who enjoy complex, puzzle-like mysteries, or more accurately, those who like stories that are like Russian dolls or Chinese boxes.
I enjoyed this book that is clever and knowing, and I’d recommend in particular to readers who are also writers or enjoy books about writers, to those who like conspiracies, spies and mysteries, especially those with a backstory of science and physics, and to people who prefer plot-driven books and who love Hitchcock, Highsmith and Murder She Wrote.
 

[Terry Tyler · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short book, a long novella. It's an unusual plot ~ student Jessica starts to write a thriller, then discovers that life is imitating art as she is swept into a cat and mouse chase involving mysterious men in vans, research into the possibility of making a bomb more powerful than a nuclear attack, truth seeker groups and murder.

I like Ms Mack's writing style very much; it's sharp, current and witty, and she has clearly drawn on her own experience to write Jessica, which was entertaining and amusing. The book alternates between Jessica's own story and that of the novel she is writing, which was only occasionally confusing; mostly, it works, and is nicely interspersed with short chapters from 'observers'. I was interested in the subject matter, and it has a good end twist which I hadn't anticipated.

For me, the downside to this story was the lighthearted tone in which it's written, almost a comedy thriller. Despite being the subject of a nationwide search and having witnessed murders, chasing across the country in an effort to hide, and wondering what the hell is going on, Jessica still makes quips and manages to work on her novel. This does make more sense when you read the twist at the end, but the problem was the rest of the story; I think it would have seemed more feasible if her work had resulted in her getting drawn into the danger, rather than having her novel 'come to life'. Also, if it had been a bit more serious, and possibly longer. It's a great idea, I just thought it needed a bit more research and thinking out.

One thing that made me choose this book was the 'New York Times best selling author' line on the cover. This refers not to this book but to a 2011 mystery, Identity Crisis, which made numbers 27 and 35 on the NYT ebook best seller list for two weeks during that year, in case you're interested.

[Jannelies (living between hope and fear) · Rating 1 out of 5]

I cannot count how many SF books I've read. I love reading about science. I love thrillers. I hoped to find something of all three in this book.
But sadley, no.
It was confusing. Not anough Planck and too much running around without achieving anything.

[Marissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Planck Factor is a science fiction thriller about a young woman who gets tangled up in a world where everything we think we know about physics gets turned on its head. Being a physics major, I was drawn to this book primarily for this reason. Unfortunately, there just wasn't enough of this aspect of the story for me. The story is told in alternating points of view and is structured as a story within a story. It features a female lead, Jessica, a grad student who becomes the target of multiple parties interested in a secret they believe she's keeping for her dead fiance that could have severe implications if it fell into the wrong hands. Most of the book is about Jessica running from these parties and trying to figure out who she can really trust. While she's being chased, she's also working on writing a book that has very eerily similarities to her real life occurrences. The writing itself was just okay. I felt that the chapter breaks were in somewhat awkward moments at times. Story was somewhat predictable up until the end when the author throws in a bit of a twist.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Mmgeric · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Hitchcock" at her best!!! Wow! A diverse plot told in a real time storyline with twists & turns.

This is not Debbie Mack's usual format nor content displayed in prior books! Mystery, science, atomic strength bombs, cloak & dagger, fiction turned reality while the writing is taking place... Geologists, geeks, gook squads, along with all the government alphabet agencies and even love affairs. Oh, I forgot to mention, a university student writing her thesis via a "dime-novel" format. Then start introducing unforeseen twists & turns that take you right down the rabbit hole!!! A superb novel that piques your interest from start to finish. An excellent job of maintaining the level of suspense throughout the entire storytelling. Revealing the story within a story, within a story at the last possible moment is truly a literary artist. Debbie Mack ranks with the best of the mystery-thriller genre !!! The Planck Factor is truly an interesting work of art revealed in a real-time situation... Great book - great topic(s)...

[MGB · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book about life imitating art is the plotline. Then the reader discovers incredible parallels, as the author of the book, that this story is about, reveals the parallels. I know it's confusing, deliberately so that the reader is never sure if it's this book, the book that the story is about, or the book in the story that the book is about. The reader has to always be on their toes, as the transitions happen from one level of indirection to another. The typeface helps this transition, but be alert to not get trapped.

Both the story and the story in the story pull in science fiction presented as physics research. The author in the story is paranoid about her book and the notebook with her story, yet there are times she flees without the notebook, but magically(?) it is there when she next needs it.

I found the epilog disappointing, it didn't seem to fit well with the rest of the story.

[B. Phoenix · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this novella on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I usually do not care for novellas, but Debbi's Mack's The Planck Factor will be the first exception. The premise and story line are so unique that the reader instantly becomes enthralled. In the prologue we are given the intrigue that drives the novel: a novelist, a spy, a secret anti-government group and impeding death. Sounds like a plot right out of an Ian Fleming novel, but Mack adds even more twists to add levels to this seemingly straightforward thriller. A type of anti-mimesis, when life imitates art mixed with a reality within a reality. The reader is left guessing until the very end. Hopefully, she will follow up with a continuation of this novel, as there were a few things that seemed unfinished.

[Annette · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book from an author's promotion.
A story within a story that does get a little confusing at times but if you pay attention to the chapter titles you won't have any problems.
Samantha is a student and is writing her first book. When her life starts to imitate things in her book she gets nervous. When she finds her friend murdered and becomes a suspect or person of interest - she gets on the first plane she can to her sisters. Strange phone calls, people following her, her sister meeting with those same people and she doesn't know who to trust or where to run.
The ending is one I never saw coming!

[Lise · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really fun thriller. The main character is a writer, who is writing a thriller. The book starts off with a lot of observations on the craft of writing, and really plays with multiple layers of the story in a number of ways, some absolutely obvious, some subtle.

There are two different world threatening scenarios as well, one of which is far more plausible than the other, but they're both fun (in a terrifying way). It's a great read, and I'm getting on Mack's mailing list because of it.

[Shari Levy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting twist on mystery fiction

I enjoyed reading this book although I found some of the plot to be highly unlikely. I wished that there was more of a difference between the 2 main women characters.

[Walter Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe Einstein was wrong…?

A fast-moving thriller/mystery with a smattering of science, a hint of global terrorism, and a novel-within-a-novel flourish that entertains.

[Aishwariya Jayakumar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review for “The Planck Factor” by Debbi Mack


Fascinating way of attempt by the author Debbi Mack presenting suspense thriller story with a hint of scientific development perspective and detecting a furtiveness in description. Entertaining readers with sequence of actions, dreadful secrets and mysteries gives book an impressive amount of thrill to feel. It’s a good pick for readers with great adventurous mind reflective to all action scenes and incidents for their passion for books.

The story of a University student and a Novelist Jessica Evan who is writing a thriller novel based on scientific research work leading a weapon even more destructive than atom bomb is main theme. Fred who was helping Jessica to research her novel about terrorist, was killed suddenly by extremist group of political dissidents and writer chased by two men has reason to buckle reader’s interest to continue. Meeting Selby Harris who studied geology for explanation after her struggle to understand the situation portrays the rigorous tension to raise the pulse of reader. Sequence of clueless journey for Jessica and absorbing an odd and threatening truth for human kind is a significant social and moral point for anyone to take into account.

Novelist was experiencing all the horrible similarities between her life and her characters in her book. Daniel, Swede and Alexis are characters in Jessica’s novel rehashing Jessica’s life incidents in her creative writing work. Furthermore, her characters in her story would encounter same outcome with her reality is interesting part to relish. Writing her story with the similar relevance and naming the file “The Planck Factor Research” in story which contains potential information is very well illustrated.


At this point, her journey with her thriller novel about terrorists, who were exploring the dark repercussions of a new physics theory that challenged Einstein’s relativity model that made her realize of catastrophic and disastrous outcome of killing innocents. Learning that scientific research study or subjects like physics may be misused adds more critical dimension to subject. Cynthia’s sudden appearance now and then, in the story accompanies a very high degree of curiosity in nature with all attention.

What’s more, Kevin following the incidents to unfolding secrets are adding interest to the author’s narration. Author’s written description with twist and turn to experience is appreciable. Jessica’s action to help Federal Agents to recover relevant data about extremist group and identify person of interest in Fred’s murder in the story gives touch of espionage feel for all the readers. Federal Agents and Homeland Security racing to search the anti-government dissidents group leader in the narration gives genuine touch to rousing tale.

Indeed, terrorism as a key issue in book to use science to develop a weapon for calamitous and terrible act causing great damage and sufferings is real great big deal for many countries in today’s world. I urge to seek more conscious awareness from all to contribute science for all human welfare. The book definitely has triggered my mind to consider our social, moral and political responsibility for all the individuals to consider and act upon for better future.


Aishwariya Jayakumar