The Fold

In "The Fold," Peter Clines dips his toes in the teleportation waters. Always a fascinating subject for me, I was curious to see how Mr. Clines handled it. I was quite pleased by the explanation he gave about the massive amount of computing power required to re-assemble an object correctly given the current state of our computers. The solution proposed was to "fold" the space between two points, thus enabling a person to travel incredible distances in a single step. (Like we have enough computing power to do that, eh?)The main character is Leland "Mike" Erikson, a man with an eidetic memory. Anything Mike has read or seen, no matter how long ago, is available to his instant and total recall. Understanding the social ramifications of his superior intellect, Mike strives to be "normal" and not bring attention to his special gift. He is working as a high school English teacher when the story opens. What can be more normal than that?Reggie Magnus, his old college friend, is the director of special projects for DARPA and has been after Mike for some tie to come and work for him. He makes his pitch once again; a project that Mike will be guaranteed to be interested in, can be done over the summer break from school, and involve a hefty salary. All Mike was required to do was observe and evaluate the project. Something seemed not quite right to Reggie, although he just couldn't put his finger on it.The project was headed by the preeminent physicist, Dr. Arthur Cross. In honor of Bugs Bunny, Cross had dubbed it "The Albuquerque Door." (For those not familiar, after Bugs ended up in some unusual place, he would always say "I knew I should have turned left at Albuquerque.") The principal of "folding" space was explained to Mike and, as Reggie had predicted, intrigued him. He therefore agreed to be Reggie's front man on the project and flew to San Diego.After meeting with the relatively small staff, Mike began to have questions himself. Something was not quite right and the staff seemed to be hiding something. Mike watched as some of the staff traveled the quarter mile between the gates in a single step and was awe struck. Still, Dr. Cross said they needed more experiments and study. Why, Mike wondered, did they need more study when everything was working so amazingly well? As Mike digs deeper, he learns the true nature of the fold and becomes increasingly worried with the results.I thought the book had an excellent premise and was presented in such a way as for science novices to easily understand. The character of Mike was at times annoying, but very much in keeping with someone of his intellect. If you have ever known a genius, they can be rather grating to the everyday person. All was great in the book except the ending, which to me seemed rather over the top. I had several WTF moments in the last 10% to 20% of the book. But hey, this was the author's vision and not mine. Some people may have loved it while others may not have liked any of the book. That's the great things about books: some peoples junk are other people's treasures.I thought the first part of the book was strong enough to carry the weak (my opinion) ending, and so I still found the overall experience enjoyable. If you decide to read this book, keep an open mind. As in life, things are not always as they appear and mankind needs to be careful when delving into areas they do not understand.

The basic premise is that the main character is one of the smartest guys ever, and he has a photographic memory that he can easily access.The main guy has a friend who works for DARPA, and the friend has been trying for years to get the main guy to help him on some projects. The main guy says no because because he’s happy being a single high school history in the northeast. Clines tries to explain this in that the main guy is like Sherlock Holmes’s less ambitious brother, Mycroft. It feels like a hand-wave, but the framing device is used through the book, it is in fact why the main guy is called “Mike” in the book.So though he keeps saying “No,” in the book the friend has a project so cool that it cannot be refused. The project is that one of the world’s most famous scientist is working on a teleportation project. Actually the thought is that they are folding reality so that different parts of space time are close and allows someone just to walk through these gates. MIke is signed up to observe and see if these people should continue receiving funds from DARPA.Cool premise, and needless to say, there are complications. It becomes a well-told, nicely paced thriller thing after 150 pages of exposition. Then it wraps up.Then there’s one more section that takes what had previously happened and sets it up for a sequel, and it is really annoying because the add-on at the end cheapens everything that came before it. It looked like the book would be a self-contained arc, then these new mysterious characters are introduced and Mike has to make a choice (along with his unrealistically portrayed lover interest - why is that necessary?) to join this mysterious group and you know that there’s going to be more to this story. Why can’t authors keep a world in one book?Couple of things. This is the first book of Clines I have read, and it is well done enough I will seek out others. I stayed up too late reading it more than once, so he can tell a story. But he does lean on some devices and descriptors too much. The main guy gets hurt at the end of the book, and his pain is described as “hooks” in his body an infinity too many times. There’s also how he describes his main character’s photographic or “eidetic” memory. He uses the imagery of ants carrying photos for him to review. It gets to be too much and a distraction from the story itself. The device of the photographic memory is well done for the most part. Though I’m skeptical of the actual existence of memory working as Clines described it, it does not make the character too robotic. There are also places where it is used to humanize the character, so it works. It was basically background like if someone was in a book that has a mech suit with cameras and a powerful computer. Same thing basically. I wish I had marked the page, but I like that they lampshaded the whole thing in a conversation. Mike is explaining his mind, and another character says something to the effect of “I thought that was only in science fiction stories”.

Its as if someone “folded” this book at the 2/3 mark and gave us a great start, but the ending was still good enough not to destroy a super beginning.

It's strange. This book ("The Fold") is the second book in the (four book) Threshold series but neither Amazon nor Goodreads mention this fact.There are some similarities between this book and the first book in the series ("14"). The similarities are not lazy overlaps but careful tie-ins. I expect more continuity in the third and fourth books.The main character is Leland "Mike" Erikson who has some super-hero skillz especially when it comes to information: an IQ somewhere north of 180 and an eidetic memory. These might be a blessing to some people (if they had these skills) but to Mike they're a burden. It's really hard to write a character like this (or act like this in a movie or TV show) but Peter skillfully never makes a false step. Mike is plausible and consistent. He's also generally a nice guy. We never find out whether he prefers the red or black ants.The story is well written slowly peeling back the layers of the ogre, I mean, plot to show that not all is as it seems. Mike goes back and fills in the details that the Albuquerque Door project missed. Like in the novel "14" where a faux-religious cult seeks to turn off the building that keeps a doorway between parallel universes closed, the Albuquerque Door team keeps opening that door to the point where it won't close. Guess who wants to come to dinner? Guess who's on the menu?I wish that the Marines had brought a bit more fire power to the battle of the "bugman" and the "seraphs".Seven-legged green cockroaches. Just saying.All and all, except for the horror elements, a pleasant read. Now I'm onto his next novel in the series "Terminus"!

Leland ‘Mike’ Erikson is a school teacher (one who happens to look like Severus Snape) in New England. It’s an undemanding but easy life for a man who could easily be one of the most intelligent human beings on the planet. With an immeasurable IQ, Mike has the unfailing ability to remember and recall every single thing that he sees, in the most minute detail and clarity. Mike feels as if his brain is alive with ants that he can control to a greater or lesser extent – when they escape, or he opens the hatch, they capture every little piece of information, just waiting for the moment when they can re-release it into Mike’s consciousness. Mike can never forget a childhood tragedy, his feelings return as raw as they were the first time, and nothing ever escapes him. It’s far better that he dulls his mind in a 9 to 5 teaching job.But one day Mike’s closest friend Reggie, a government agent with influence, invites Mike to head to San Diego to join a team of DARPA scientists, led by Arthur Cross, who are working on a mysterious secret project they have named the Albuquerque Door. More precisely, Reggie wants Mike to investigate the project and find out exactly what it is that Arthur and his team have found and whether it is worth the investment. All Reggie knows is that the Door is a device that folds dimensions. A person can walk through one door and exit another in an instant, with just one step, however far apart the doors might be. Mike doesn’t have to be a genius to work out what a leap for mankind teleportation would represent.Reggie suspects, though, that Arthur is hiding something from him, that he is reluctant either to explain the technology or to release its benefits into the world despite its great successes. Mike can’t resist the challenge and soon finds himself observing the team as they send each other to and fro between the doors placed on either side of the facility.I’m no expert on quantum physics (or if I am, I keep it hidden) but that didn’t matter at all with The Fold. Mike might be a genius but he too has to learn what’s going on and, as he observes, he becomes our eyes, explaining what has happened in an unobtrusive but fascinating way. Mike falls for the Star Trekkingly fabulous wonder of it all and his enthusiasm for it is catching. But he’s also suspicious of how it works, particularly as he realises that Arthur and the others may actually be as much in the dark as he is. Something is going on, the behaviour of the team, likeable though they may be, is inconsistent, and, as he digs, Mike discovers that not all of the experiments were quite as successful as he’d been led to believe.I gobbled The Fold up. I loved the writing, I loved the fun of it, full of references to pop culture, and yet so brilliantly fascinating and, as we headed into the second half, utterly thrilling, horrifying, jawdropping and marvellous! Peter Clines has the most amazing imagination and he made me want to believe it could all happen. The first half is sciencey while the second half delves deep into horror and I surprised myself to discover that I enjoyed the two equally. One reason for this is the unifying figure of Mike – I really, really liked this man. I loved the way his brain works and he manages to be both human and superhuman at the same time. The other scientists all have their unique personalities and the setting itself is so well depicted – it’s like some strange science camp in the middle of nowhere for people who don’t quite fit in elsewhere.I’d been longing to read The Fold for such a long time. It came out in the US ages before it was released over here and I suffered with my impatience. With all that anticipation going on, I’m so happy to report that it didn’t just match my expectations, it far exceeded them and gave me one of the best times I’ve had reading a science fiction thriller in such a long time. It’s one of those rare books that I wish I hadn’t read just so I could have the pleasure of reading it for the first time again. All the stars to this one.

This was the first Peter Clines book I have ever read, and I enjoyed it. I do not want to spoil the book for anyone so I wont go into detail but I thought the main character is well thought out and I can see him carrying on in other stories. the story gripped me and I wanted to know what happens next so I couldn't put it down.What I didn't enjoy was the price tag. I think nearly ten pounds is to much.I like the convenience of the Kindle but this was a bridge to far.

I enjoyed this book tremendously, and am looking forward to reading more from the author.

Gets a bit weird the longer you go, then really super weird at the end. But I enjoyed the first two thirds a lot.

The descriptions are basic but the story captures you and carries you along. I found it intriguing indeed. Well done Peter.