Мираж

by F. Paul Wilson, Matthew Costello, Юлиана Цалева (Translator)

Навлизайки в интригуващата загадка на човешката памет, авторът на бестселъри от "Ню Йорк Таймс" Ф.Пол Уилсън и романистът-компютърен експерт Матю Дж. Костело смесват виртуалната реалност с отнемащо дъха напрежение. Резултатът е уникален медицински трилър, който ни въвежда в обсебеното съзнание на жертва на коматоза, разкрива най- дълбоките дебри на подсъзнанието и открива един ужасяващ нов свят, където спомените могат да се създават, променят и дори рушат...
Отдадена на работата си, водещ учен- изследовател само на двадесет и осем години, Джули сътворява най-вълнуващата програма за виртуална реалност- едно компютърно пътуване в съзнанието на пациента. Програмата е още в експериментален етап, когато Джули научава, че нейната сестра близначка Саманта е в кома. Въпреки всички усилия тя губи мозъчните си функции и умира бавно. Единствената надежда е Джули да навлезе в начупения лабиринт на нейното съзнание със своята експериментална програма.
Дълбоко в опустошената виртуална памет на сестра си, Джули разбира, че и тя самата е в опасност, а кошмарът е още в началото...

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Science Fiction, Mystery

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Francis Paul Wilson is an author, born in Jersey City, New Jersey. He writes novels and short stories primarily in the science fiction and horror genres. His debut novel was Healer (1976). Wilson is also a part-time practicing family physician. He made his first sales in 1970 to Analog and continued to write science fiction throughout the seventies. In 1981 he ventured into the horror genre with the international bestseller, The Keep, and helped define the field throughout the rest of the decade. In the 1990s he became a true genre hopper, moving from science fiction to horror to medical thrillers and branching into interactive scripting for Disney Interactive and other multimedia companies. He, along with Matthew J. Costello, created and scripted FTL Newsfeed which ran daily on the Sci-Fi Channel from 1992-1996.

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

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't finish this book. It was pretty boring and I had many issues with it, mainly the perspective of looking at someone's memory. If you are looking into someone's memory, wouldn't it always be from their perspective? If I think about my memories, I don't picture them in third person.

[Magda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd give it a 🌟🌟 1/2. It was okay. I had high hopes for this. I listened to the audiobook and It is entirely possible that it had to do with the narrator (Nona Pipes).

[Paul Close · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, but a little saccharin. Julie is a perfect daughter, her twin is the bad girl, and even though this is a plot device, it detracts from the characters.





Too much emphasis on Julie's duty to save her sister because they are family.





Twists at the end are somewhat predictable.

[Cheyenne Shuman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This sci-fi is unique and fast paced. I loved the characters and fell in love with the main character and how she developed throughout the novel. The twist in this book is great and added a great suspense to the book. The chapters are short and it's relatively easy to get through. I highly recommend this one to any sci-fi lover!

[Bob Box · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in 1997. A leading research scientist has created the exciting virtual reality program ever.

[Michaell Baumler · Rating 4 out of 5]

It could have said what happened with Liam and Dr.S

[Mommacat · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished this short 2 cassette audiobook last night while painting the last of the hot tub gazebo :-) The reader is female, and they do not list her name on the book cover, but they should because she is a good reader with interesting voice inflections. At the end of the book she interviews both writers. Yes, this is written by two authors: F. Paul Wilson, Matthew J. Costello and the interview is just as interesting as the book. I didn't realize that there were two authors until I heard the interview after finishing the book. You find out that both write for the Science Fiction Channel (at least they did in 1996), and both have interesting other careers. The book itself has several interesting twists, with one powerful twist near the end. I give this book an 8 out of 10 on my own scale, so I recommend it. I got the book for $1.00 at a thrift store and it was well worth the dollar. It was written in 1996 and still works 11 years later.

My only disappointment was that I accidentally pushed the record button instead of rewind, and recorded over about 15 minutes of the first side of the first tape, so I can't loan this out to anyone else :-( A message to all Audiobook publishers, use read-only cassette tapes so this doesn't happen. It is easy to do. In this case the publisher is Soundelux Audio Publishing, 37 Commercial Blvd, Novato, CA 94949. Phone 1-800-227-2020. I was really surprised that I was able to record over an audio book !!

[M. Sprouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a pleasant surprise. I won't rehash the plot, you can read that elsewhere. This book doesn't waste a lot of time, they're projecting into memoryscapes at almost the very first. That said, it took about 60 pages to really hook me. It's not that those sixty pages weren't interesting or action filled, it was more about my busy schedule and only being able to read about 20 pages a night in those first few days. Once the weekend arrived I read the last 300+ pages in less than two days. Mirage is a thriller with lots of twist, but not excessively hard to figure out most of the ending. When you take into consideration that this book was written over 20 years ago and some of the technology is outdated, you have to give credit to the authors. I'm a F. Paul Wilson fan and after reading all the Repairman Jack series, and the other adversary cycle books, I've begun to reap the other books he's sown. Mirage is one of the best of his 1990's offerings along with Midnight Mass. The whole concept of our "memory" and the hows and whys of what effects it was fascinating. I'm a bit surprised it didn't get more 5 star ratings, or maybe I was just having a good weekend? I just can't remember.

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Julie and Sammi are identical twins, who are estranged and seem to care little for each other. Sammi is an artist, bohemian and involved with a dangerous arsonist terrorist Liam. Julie is a neurophysicist Tragedy starts in their live at 5yo when a fire destroys their house and kills their parents, then they go to England to live with their uncle eathan. More tragedy ensues when Sammi goes into a coma. So Julie takes her expertise to use her research to go into sammi's mind and memories. Then Julie must put the subconscious memory clues together to save sammi's and then her own life.
I really liked this book, and it sucked me in. About the middle of the book, I felt like the pace picked up and went faster and faster. However, I sorta guessed what was up before the protagonist, and wanted her to catch up to me. I just couldn't figure out how.

Seems many readers were bothered by the change of tense throughout the book, this did not bother me at all. My mother notes these kind of things, but not me.

[Deirdre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sam and Julie are identical twins. One is an artist and the other a scientist. Julie has been doing research into looking into memories and people's mindscapes while Sam is living in Paris, painting and living impulsively. They lost their parents early and were brought up by their uncle.

Sam is found in her apartment in Paris, unconscious and her rooms ransacked. There's no obvious reason for the unconsciousness and Julie decides to investigate the only way she knows how.

What she finds could shatter her life.

It's interesting, the characters are different and the tech isn't explored in depth but assumed, meaning that it doesn't come across quite as dated as some descriptions of virtual worlds from the 90's. Enjoyable but somehow lacking a bit, the ending felt a bit of a letdown, I did guess some of the mysteries quite early on.

[Sannie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book eons ago but it's one of my favorites that I still re-read. Though the book was written a little over 10 years ago, I still think the idea of being able to go into someone's mind and see it as a virtual reality is intriguing. To the best of my knowledge, it is still impossible. Some books that write about possible technology become obsolete or laughable when the technology becomes a reality, but Mirage is still an exciting thriller. I would especially recommend this book for any fans of the show VR5 that ran on Fox back in the 90s.

[Eric Maier · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was good. I haven't read a book this quickly ina while. One really neat about this one is that whenever the main character was inside another person's memory the writing changed from 3rd POV to 2nd POV. You hardly ever read books in the 2nd POV ("you saw this, you did that..."). The first time it went to 2nd POV it felt odd but not any of the other times. Very well written and merged seamlessly into the story.

[Blake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book that I first read in about year 8 or 9 then promptly forgot the title and authors and spent the next 10-odd years trying to track it down. I enjoyed it just as much the second time. Great concept, great imagery and well written, although with maybe just a few too many clues. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a bit of a psychological thriller to sink their teeth into.

[Tina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very transparent, boring representation of this subject. The writing was just not interesting, although the concept itself could have been. It was a very quick read just because it was so boring, and I wanted to just get it over with.

[Phil Mullen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting that Wilson worked with a co-author, Matthew Costello.

I liked the conceit of being able to view, via technology, the inscape of one's memories. Read this one zip-zip, & closed it with a hint of sadness there was no more to enjoy.

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The VR part was interesting, but the ending seemed a bit lacking.

That said, it's hardly a medical thriller, like the cover touts. :P

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

...

[Anne (w/ an E) · Rating 1 out of 5]

There were a few unexpected moments in this book but also very predictable moments, especially the ending. There was no surprise there. I could have told what was going to happen.

[Ron Judenberg]

to-read

[Gerry Durisin · Rating 4 out of 5]

When her twin sister suddenly falls into a coma, research scientist uses her current project, Memoryscape, to search her sister’s memories for the cause.

[Jon Mamaril]

sci-fi