"They were attempting to recreate create energy levels that hadn’t existed since a nanosecond after the Big Bang, when the universe’s temperature was 10,000,000,000,000,000 degrees."

Experiments with light # 27. Geilston Bay, March 2013.

Flashforward by Robert J. Sawyer

Look, this isn’t a well-written book. I shall list some of the challenges: leaden characters; pedestrian dialogue; impenetrable digressions on the nature of physics; and an approach to female characters and their motivations that make me wonder if the author has ever spoken to a woman. It is a testament to the appeal of that central narrative premise that I enjoyed it so much.

That premise? Picture this: a pair of brilliant physicists working at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, utilising the world’s largest particle physics laboratory in the endeavour to isolate the Higgs boson elementary particle (at least, I think that’s what they were trying to do, I forget). Anyway, at the very moment that they fire up the Large Hadron Collider to smash that boson, everything stops.

For the next two minutes and seventeen seconds, every person on Earth blacks out. Cars and planes crash, people fall downstairs to their deaths, others smash their heads into their desks or the ground as they suddenly drop without warning. In the blackout period, many people experience an interlocking mosaic of visions that turn out to be a glimpse of the future twenty-one years from that moment. Some don’t see anything.

From here, several narrative arcs evolve. We have huge questions that relate to the implications on our understanding of space and time: is the future fixed and predetermined? What becomes of free will? Is there only one dimension or – as predicted by string theory – are there additional dimensions that might be detected?

Alongside this are the more prosaic questions that emerge from the event: can our brooding lead physicist overcome the traumas of a cold and bitter childhood and find love at last? Will his brilliant and driven junior partner be able to solve the mystery of his own murder that he knows will happen twenty-one years hence? When will that freckly young bloke finally get to see that other sexy scientist lady without her clothes on? Did I mention that the book’s approach to women was somewhat retrograde?

So a lot of stuff happens, with plenty of hackneyed dialogue and a lot of adverbs flung about with abandon. There’s a lot of internal rumination (to minimal productive resolution) from our leads. I appreciated the effort made towards the female of the species (women can be smart too, particularly those of beguiling and mysterious Asian backgrounds). However, getting some feedback from a woman might have helped soften some of the edges (“Hmmm, do you think that ALL men casually reflect upon their past encounters with sex workers when they’re considering future romantic relationships?”).

Yet, I enjoyed it. If you find the concepts of interest and are happy to run with some weak writing and heavy science, this could be the book for you!

 

⭐ ⭐ 1/2