Infinite by Brian Freeman

​This turned out to be infinitely more fun than I expected, having never read the author. To be fair, I didn’t really read the description, just kind of got it on a whim, so I didn’t quite know what to expect and thought it would be yet another thriller, but Freeman took it one (or technically great many) steps further, into the quantum dimension.
It’s great, really, because it’s like getting something extra, a fun bonus. I kind of think of the quantum thriller genre or subgenre as Blake Crouch territory since he’s the one who’s been doing these great science fiction/thriller mash ups lately, but this novel has enough legs of its own to stand on.
The original idea here was to mix psychology and quantum physics, something one of the characters in the book specializes in, the Many Worlds, Many Minds theory. Since there may very well be infinite worlds out there, it means there might very well be infinites yous out there, each one leading a variant on your life, so why not find your best possible option? After all, given a choice, one should always choose the best possible scenario.
This concept might be intriguing for some, but for Dylan Moran, a man widowed recently and tragically, it’s positively irresistible. But what if he isn’t the only one with the same idea? In fact, what if he isn’t even the only Dylan Moran with the same idea? What if the scariest thing isn’t the unknowns but the man who wears your face?
So it’s that kind of an adventure, a multiworld doppelganger serial killer thriller with all the trimmings. It’s fast paced, exciting and comfortably reliant upon a genuinely potent emotional backbone to engage the readers on every level. The narrative is whatever the opposite of dense…light? At any rate it reads very quickly, which is a good thing, because you won’t want to put this one down. There’s great dialogue, actual character development and a location, Chicago, that positively comes alive in a you’re there kind of way.
Freeman’s been in the writing game for a while and it shows in that certain shiny finish and slickness of the novel, but in a good way. It’s a professional job all the way, but not soulless and it doesn’t pander.
In fact, the only possible detractor about this was the ending, which was kind of a narrative cheat in a way, right down to the gotcha last sentence. I won’t discuss it in detail to avoid giving away crucial plot material, but suffice it to say it kind of takes the easy way out in the end. I wanted more, blame it on Crouch. But that’s relatively minor comparing to the overall effect, really. And the overall effect here is overwhelmingly positive. It was certainly an excellent introduction to a new author for me. One I’d gladly read again. I don’t normally go for serials, but Freeman has some standalones too, considerately enough, so yey.
There are seemingly as many thrillers out there as there are quantum realities, but this is the smart choice. Very entertaining read. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.