(This is an edit of an old review from 2011 back when I read it, that I mailed to my brothers. I recently discovered I hadn't marked this book as read on goodreads so I dug up my old review...)

I enjoyed reading this book, but it was quite a departure from what I'd recently read. Having read back to back World War Z & Robopocalypse I hit a speed bump reading this book. It took a while longer to read this book, which wasn't a bad thing, but it was definitely a change of pace.

My brother mentioned a twist ("the big lie") when he recommended this book. I was satisfactorily impressed with the twist. Part of me was anticipating this reveal throughout the entire novel but not knowing where it would land. Part of me was wishing I hadn't known this was coming--but the effect was still very much a wow moment when I figured it out / it was revealed to me in the story. Even once I realized where the lie, lay, it was actually a bigger reveal, even though it was downplayed in the book with very little coverage, how the STUFF/FOX interplay came about. Fascinating stuff (ha ha)!

I was looking for more of a conclusion but perhaps it is better that way: not having much of one (more a denouement that conclusion, really), wondering how life will go on given the events of the end. I wonder what he's writing about next?

I give this book 5 out of 5 should-have-been-written-by-my-brother-Daves.