Comment: I was given this book for my birthday and decided to pick it up to be the last book of my 2023 reading year. I had previously read a book by the author, which I felt was bonkers in a thrilling kind of way, but while I liked both, I ended up enjoying the development of this one better.
In this book we meet a cast of characters who are going on with their lives knowing that there is an app that helps people to biologically find their match. Years ago, a scientist discovered a gene which everyone has but that can only be found in one other person in the planet and these two individuals will be a Match. The fact so many could now know exactly the person who should be "destined" made many happy, but many others who did the test found out their partners weren't the one and this led to a lot of heartbreak and split relationships. In a world where established love isn't really love or where mind over matter might not be the answer, can anyone truly believe in happy ever after?
I thought this thriller to be quite engaging, as I had found the other book by the author I tried. At first I was a little doubtful, as things start off pretty quietly, even though one of the five characters whose POV we have was a surprise, psychologically. Obviously the author dedicated some time to how his characters would be and I will confess that,having read the other book by him where things escalated into incredible levels, psychologically I mean, I was a little unsure on what to think now, since this seemed to be start quite normally.
Well, this was certainly a work in progress and the interest of this novel was in the slow process of how the characters dealt with what they learned when they found out about their matches. Even those who seemed to be in steady lives and occupations were, somehow, affected by the new knowledge and I think this was the best feature of the story, the way each character, in different places in life - mostly emotionally - could think and process what was happening. I really think the sort of philosophical idea of having a true soulmate out there which science could prove was a clever idea to develop.
In fact, I had this book in mind as well when I've read another, by duo Christina Lauren, back in October. In their book an app to match soulmates had also been invented and we had a mix of science and romance. In this book by John Marrs, the goal isn't the romance of things, but the effects of the knowledge on people's beliefs and awareness... plus the placebo effect of doing something because a higher power (biology) makes it so. These two books go at it through different routes but the end is the same, and I can't help but think of this since I've read the books close to another another.
I can't say if one was better than the other and I certainly don't have knowledge to say if the science in one or the other, or both, is well presented (if such a gene/biological feature could really exist), but considering only the type of plot and genre, I did like better the way John Marrs developed his idea because he focused on more interesting details, in my opinion.
The plot isn't complicated, we have five main characters whose thoughts and actions we follow, in five alternated chapters, meaning we follow the five in a row, then again and again until a change or two closer to the end of the novel. All the characters were fascinating because each one is facing a different scenario based on who they were matched to. I did prefer two out of the five because those two had a little bit of romance imbibed in their character development and I simply like it more when there's romance involved, but all showed a valid side of life, if such a gene truly existed and would be reason to unbalance and change people's lives.
There are many ingenious details regarding the five main characters and until a certain point, each new information was a surprise but it wasn't that special or particularly noticeable. Things do become more intriguing after more than half way, when the author starts introducing enough clues to take the plot into true thriller mode. I think some things could have been done differently for more impact, but I can't complain about the end, which was somehow suitable. And there is even hint of true love...
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