The 22 Murders of Madison May by Max Barry

​   Quantum thrillers seem to be the new thing. That’s fun. I’m not sure if it all began with the success of Blake Crouch’s Dark Matter, but here they are. I’ve just read another one, Infinite by Freeman and now this book. But then again I would have read this book no matter the genre, I’m a huge Max Barry fan. I’ve loved his work back when he did clever social satires and now that he’s genre hopping, the interest hasn’t waned, despite his somewhat underwhelming science fiction venture Providence.
  And with this book he’s back to awesome. Just like that. One or twenty two spins around the multiverse later.
  This is a story of a serial killer. Or a story of a misbegotten romantic obsession. Or a story about a world with entirely too many possible outcomes. You decide. Things can change subtly but unalterably in a blink, but then again some things remain constant. Like Maddie May, an aspiring actress and Felicity, a determined reporter with a potent altruistic streak, determined to save Maddie, and Clayton, a disturbed man so madly in love with Maddie, she’ll need protection from him in any world. And these three will tangle through different timelines, until arriving at a satisfactory resolution. And it’s tons of fun to behold.
   The thing that Crouch got so right and Freeman did ok and this book nailed is the world building (or worlds, more accurately) for the multiverse. If you’re doing it all the way up, prepare to lay out some science. If you’re doing it on a more superficial level, cover the basics and stick to the uniform rules. Barry goes with the latter approach, forgoing oversciencing which can often go by the way of overspicing, and relying instead on the interesting, likable, compelling characters. And it works like a charm. Which is to say, I was completely charmed. I enjoyed the story, appreciated the pacing, loved the narrative and the original concept and was completely engaged with the characters. All in all, an excellent awesomely entertaining read from a clever, talented and versatile author. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.