Flashback
by Dan Simmons
By the mid-2030s, America as we know it has ceased to exist. The social, political, and fiscal crises of the present day have metastasized wildly, and the center no longer holds. The nation, now hopelessly fragmented, remains in the grip of a seemingly endless recession. Stadiums once used for sporting events now serve as Homeland Security detention centers. And vast segments of the populace have succumbed to Flashback, a potent new drug that allows its users to recreate — to literally re-experience — selected moments from the past. Against this backdrop, Simmons introduces Nick Bottom: grieving widower, former Denver homicide detective, and hardcore Flashback addict. Nick’s moribund life takes an unexpected turn when he is asked to revisit a vicious double homicide he failed to solve more than six years before.
These are the central elements of a remarkable — and disquieting — novel that crosses genre boundaries with effortless authority. Absorbing, affecting, and constantly surprising, Flashback shows us Dan Simmons at his unpredictable best, combining the pleasures of a headlong narrative with a richly detailed portrait of a frightening — and all too plausible — new world.
2 editions available
Editions
By the mid-2030s, America as we know it has ceased to exist. The social, political, and fiscal crises of the present day have metastasized wildly, and the center no longer holds. The nation, now hopelessly fragmented, remains in the grip of a seemingly endless recession. Stadiums once used for sporting events now serve as Homeland Security detention centers. And vast segments of the populace have succumbed to Flashback, a potent new drug that allows its users to recreate — to literally re-experience — selected moments from the past. Against this backdrop, Simmons introduces Nick Bottom: grieving widower, former Denver homicide detective, and hardcore Flashback addict. Nick’s moribund life takes an unexpected turn when he is asked to revisit a vicious double homicide he failed to solve more than six years before. These are the central elements of a remarkable — and disquieting — novel that crosses genre boundaries with effortless authority. Absorbing, affecting, and constantly surprising, Flashback shows us Dan Simmons at his unpredictable best, combining the pleasures of a headlong narrative with a richly detailed portrait of a frightening — and all too plausible — new world.