The Fold - A Novel by Peter Clines

Published by Crown Publishing

Mind-blowing, creative and suspenseful.
From the beginning, when a woman's husband is due to return from his 'out-of-town' meeting and he returns but has no idea who she is or why she's there, this book is about to become far more than expected.

I loved this book by Peter Clines, an author I hadn't read before, and I will certainly be reading more from him. It grabbed my attention immediately and kept my mind occupied and in suspense to the end. This sci-fi novel is pretty mind-blowing, a different take on a fairly oft-written theme with a twist, in fact several twists, a thriller with a hidden agenda and a hero who is a high school English teacher. The title "The Fold" could easily represent a number of different storylines within the story. Strictly speaking it means what Mike, the school teacher, is told it means, but following the story it seems as though the entire story folds itself in several ways.

Mike Erikson, whose real name is Leland, is not your ordinary teacher. Mike often works in the summer as an observer or advisor for a secret agency of some uncertain type. This summer is no different as he is called in by his friend Reggie to look into a highly secret project. He is told just enough to pique his curiosity. With Mike's special skills, and exceptional IQ and eidetic memory, he is often called on in unusual and secret projects. One might think of him as having Sherlock Holmes' powers of observation...and obviously he is not going to forget anything he observes.

Throughout the story, there are constant shifts in how the information filters to him. There are so many odd things that are off-limit information to him, and at the same time some unexpected information comes his way. When the whole story turns topsy-turvy and what everyone believes is going on suddenly becomes totally wrong the story twist more. Imagery in the characters is exceptional. Truly a fascinating book written with wonderful imagination and story-telling mixed with bits of physics, historical scientific research, and Star Trek type humor.