I read this book in two days and only put it down for eating, sleeping and going to work. It has a lot of merits. The literary capabilities of Dan Simmons are far above what we are usally treated to in Science Fiction. He can really tell a story. Most characters in the story are well developed and the progression of the story is fast paced and well told.

Jeremy Bremer is a telepath. He can read the random thoughts of normal people and shares what is called "mind touch" with his wife of 5 years. This means that they can share every single thought, memory and emotion they experience. In the opening chapter Jeremys wife dies. None of them has ever encountered any other telepaths and he feels totally alone. He abandons his pervious life and begins on a downward spiral, that brings him into more and more sinester parts of America.

The "mind touch" with his wife served as a shield against the mental background noise of "normal people", that Jeremy thinks of as "neuro-babble". When she dies the neuro-babble rises to to a level where it is painfull for Jeremy to be near too many people. Fleeing society it becomes clear, that Jeremy has become tuned into the darkest wavelengths of human thinking. He is not hearing the neurobabble of ordinary people. He is hearing and beeing drawn in by the dark thoughts of some of the most disturbed people in America.

If I had ratede this book on the night of having finished reading it, I would have given it five stars. Having given it a bit more thought I find that there are a few reasons, that it can not get the top grade. Simmons discribes his main character with little empathy. Often I find myself not believing in Jeremy. His actions seem poorly predicted by the previous story or by his history as a teacher and a mathmatician. Worse by far is the fact, that the central premise of Jeremys telepathy has not been taken to the logical conclusion. Jeremy can read the minds of normal people, he can sense emotions and he can impress thoughts, images and ideas on the minds of others. But he never once uses this ability to defend himself. It seems that it has not occured to Jeremy (or Simmons) that his ability can be used offensively.

I still very much like this book. I just do not think that Simmons takes it all the way, the way he could have. ( )

Dan does it again. From my viewpoint this offered up a weird alternative to Buddhism. Mr. Simmons always manages to draw together many disparate subjects into an inter-genre riveting story. ( )

Dan Simmons is a pretty smart guy. For example, in this novel he works quantum theory and chaos math into a novel about a telepath on the lam. Thaose elements are pretty well done, and the ending really ties everything together with a nice little grace note. That said, I almost put the book down halfway through.

The protagonist, our telepath, is Jeremy Bremer. As the novel begins, Jeremy loses his wife (who was also a telepath) to brain cancer. His connection to his wife was a big part in keeping other peoples thoughts out of his mind, so between grief and a serious case of psychic hypersensitivity, he decides to make a complete break with his life.

At first, that just involves a quiet vacation in the Florida Everglades. Soon enough, through a series of unexpected circumstances, he finds himself plunging into darker and darker spaces (both mentally and physically). Incidentally, some of these circumstances arise because Jeremy seems pretty easy to sneak up on for a telepath. (I was unsure if this was meant to be a running gag.) Through another series of circumstances (some might say coincidences), he ends up discovering how he might be able to get back what he has lost.

However, as I said before, I almost gave up on the novel halfway through. Simmons may have a solid grasp of quantum physics, but he doesn't quite manuever all of the dramatic aspects as well. The book really drags while Jeremy is on the aimless part of his journey, and the attempt to liven it up with a horror-story sequence was not entirely convincing, perhaps even a bit jarring. (It was actually sort of fun, but added an extra degree of inconsistency to the tone of the novel.)

Also off-putting was a scene where Jeremy describes Gail's physical beauty, which runs too long and is filled with too many cliches--perhaps it's just a personal thing, but it kind of sabotaged the emotional investment I may have had in their relationship. The poignancy of losing someone with whom one has such a special connection is powerful enough on its own. The description of her hotness, which assures us of the perkiness (and perfect shape) of her breasts and how "finely chiselled" her features are took me out of the story too much.

I have to admit there is the possibility that I'm being overly harsh. Taken on the level of a standard pulpy thriller, like something from Koontz, it's a fairly decent work. But Simmons seems to be attempting something more complex (which he achieves in other works) so it was just sort of frustrating to see the novel fail to live up to those ambitions.

So, there's some interesting elements at work here, and a good ending. But I'd say this is definitely not Simmons' best. If you're interested in high-concept science fiction, stick with the Hyperion series. If you want to see Simmons exploring dark material, stick with his horror novels. (Song of Kali, Carrion Comfort, etc.) ( )

Jeremy Bremen is a mathematician and telepath, his wife - whose combined mind-shield helped keep them both sane - has died and his ground-breaking work in modeling the working of human consciousness is has been abruptly abandoned. Unable to cope with the overpowering 'neurobabble' and his own despair he forsakes his previous life and flees through a series of bizarre and sometimes brutal life experiences. This is kinda cool, there's a healthy dose of chaos theory, quantum physics and neuroscience blended into what could, with a tiny shift in direction, be a horror novel. Simmons has a bit of a leaning toward exploring the darker side.