Expect Me Tomorrow by Christopher Priest

​It’s difficult, so very difficult, to explain why you don’t love the book that is so obviously good. I’ll try, anyway.
Expect Me Tomorrow is my first read by the author, though I absolutely loved the cinematic adaptation of his movie Prestige. Granted, some of that love might have had to do with it being about magicians (one of my favorite subjects) and he fact that it was simply a very well-made movie, but still…
So, that’s what made me aware of Priest, and when this, his latest novel, came up on Netgalley, featuring more twins and alternative timelines and science, I figured it was time to check him out.
Well, ok, I did. Took days to get through – unusual for me. And for a book not much over 300 pages.
There’s so much good within these pages, too. Priest has really crammed it with plots and subplots and information. The latter of which might have been the novel’s downfall for me.
Downfall’s too dramatic, though; more like a lamentable detractor.
There’s a paragraph or two toward the end where one of the characters described the book by another as heavy going and too loaded with detail or something like that, and it’s exactly my opinion of this novel.
For all the ingenious interwoven structure of the plot, for all its clever use of utilizing a dramatized version of an old true crime case, for how well it alternates between historical and futuristic fiction, for all of its prescient timely message about the climate…it is so freaking heavy going, dense, and minutely detailed that it’s kind of a slog to read.
The climate message particularly is very heavy-handed here. In both timelines. The first protagonist is a climatologist from late 1800s/early 1900s; the second is a police consultant enhanced by experimental technology who gets involve in analyzing and creating a climate report.
The trick (well, one of them) is that the latter is a descendant of the former, and through his new tech device he traces his relative in time and contacts him.
The irony is that climatologist of yore wasn’t paid much attention to because the science was too new and too experimental, and in 2050, similar reports are ignored or dismissed as alarmist, because people are simply too stupid and self-involved to understand and appreciate them.
Priest, though, pays attention. It’s obvious that a tremendous amount of research went into writing this novel, but that is also responsible for all the times it seemingly turns from fiction into a climate change documentary.
Mind you, I’m all for it. This is a significant hugely important subject, and it should be taught, discussed, etc. but…maybe not to this extent in a fictional novel?
It’s frustrating, really, because the novel is otherwise so well composed and written. Priest is obviously a very talented author and storyteller, and this novel of yesterday and tomorrow demonstrates it amply. But it weighs itself down with an anchor as heavy as it is well-meaning.
So didn’t’ quite work for me. User mileage may vary. Thanks Netgalley.