Published By: Harvill Secker
Pages: 368
Released On: 27/02/2025
YOU CAN HEAR HIS EVERY THOUGHT… BUT HE CAN HEAR YOURS TOO.
Never again wonder where they are
Never again doubt their feelings for you
Know your partner intimately
OneMind: for the ultimate closeness
When Elijah suggests going to OneMind to celebrate their ten-year anniversary, Anna is dubious about getting the implant. However, she’s eager to please him, and to make up for the fact she can’t give him what he really wants, she agrees to take this step towards the ultimate intimacy.
And at first things are great. Anna feels closer to her husband, and the novelty of communicating mind to mind is a thrill. But then she develops a strange side effect and begins having dreams that aren’t dreams, but memories. Memories that aren’t hers. And if Anna is now seeing Elijah’s memories, what if he can see hers? Will he discover what she’s been hiding in her past?
Desperate to keep the truth from her husband, Anna’s mind becomes a prison she can’t escape. How long can she keep the traitorous thoughts at bay before she drives herself mad?
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Harvill Secker for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
This sounded perfectly thrilling and really unique. I read A LOT of thrillers, it’s probably my most read genre, but after a while they do become a bit samey, but this was completely new for me.
What was worrying is how real this book could be. What with more of our lives being online, there’s not much privacy anymore, and so our mind and our thoughts are sacred. And with the inventions in technology and AI, it feels like this sci-fi future could very much become fact.
This is freaky and unfair. It doesn’t matter how much you love someone, I wouldn’t want them reading every single thought, and that’s not because I have anything to hide. It’s just an invasion of privacy. Whether it’s my friend, my partner, or my Mum, my thoughts are mine alone.
It is mostly set in the present time, but every so often there’s a flashback to Anna and Elijah’s younger years, as well as testimonials from other people who have had the Unity chip added. This helps add context and backstory to the novel.
It’s a slow, careful, psychological thriller. It lulls you in, you get to know these characters, how happy they are, and how surely nothing can go wrong. But slowly, you start to read between the lines. And you realise things are just slightly off. Not enough to notice initially. Like, when you walk into a room and immediately notice something has moved but you’re not quite sure what, but it’s thrown everything off.
A very strong theme in this book is that of coercive control. It’s not that physical violence that we all perceive abuse to be, that isolating fear. But Elijah always wants to know where Anna is, who she’s with, what she’s doing, and it was him who suggested getting the chip. It’s seen as a loving, caring way, that he’s worried about her. But it’s very subtle, as it can be in real life. It’s very powerful and very uncomfortable.
We have four main characters I would say:
Anna is our main woman; I flipped and flopped with her. I felt for her as she was clearly struggling in her professional life and personal life. She’s quite subdued, controlled (but she doesn’t always realise it). She’s a bit naïve and clearly hiding something. But in all, I did feel sympathy towards her.
Then Elijah is Anna’s husband. He was a charming, slimy little man. He’s charismatic, oozes charm, he worms his way in, but has a short fuse and is clearly very controlling.
And then their friends Helen and Gavin. Gavin was unredeemable for me, for reasons I won’t spoil. He tried to win me over but I wasn’t having any of it. Helen is Anna’s friend and she’s like the devil’s advocate, questioning everything, not always supportive, but I think her heart is always in the right place.
It’s not always believable, and if you focus on those elements then you’ll drive yourself mad. Some bits worked better than others and in context of what is a fantasy sci-fi thriller, it works. Just don’t think about it too much (pun very much intended).
It is paced well. It’s slow enough to let you in, get to know the characters, and feel comfortable in their world, but fast enough to be exciting and frantic.
I read some reviews that said they didn’t like the ending, and I’m not sure why. I support it does all end rather abruptly but I’m not sure that’s a negative, at least it wasn’t for me. I felt the plot interested me and carried on this great storytelling right to the end. A very promising debut.
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