(Image from Indiebound)

There are three big reasons why Flashback, the newest offering from Dan Simmons, really should not have appealed to me. Like at all.

Except I did.

Why?

I'll give you three reasons:

Number One: It's dystopian. What can I say? I'm a junkie. The world Simmons creates in Flashback isn't postapocalyptic - not exactly - but it's most assuredly dystopian. He describes a United States brought to its knees by economic collapse, a country ruled by warring factions, a nation so indebted to foreign governments that it sends teenage armies overseas in exchange for cold, hard cash. It's a bleak, brutal world, one that teeters on the brink of anarchy, civil war and total annihaltion by any number of nuke-toting superpowers.

Number Two: The premise. At its heart, Flashback is a murder mystery, but it's a murder mystery with flair. Think Mad Max meets Inception and you're sorta close. The story goes something like this: Denver detective Nick Bottom (yes, like the Shakespeare character) wants to find the person who killed 21-year-old Keigo Nakamura six years ago. He needs the work, or rather the money Keigo's billionaire father promises to pay, to support his drug habit. Nick's not the only American addicted to Flashback, a substance that allows users to escape the real world by "flashing" on old memories, but his overuse has cost him his job, his reputation and every single new dollar in his savings. Nick's desperate for more cash, more Flashback, more time to relive precious moments with his dead wife. To earn it, he'll have to "flash" back to the days when he first investigated Keigo's death, wander through his memory searching for new leads, and follow them in real time to solve a case that's growing colder by the second. Along the way he'll make shocking discoveries about his employer, his wife, his 16-year-old son and, most of all, himself.

Intriguing, no?

If you're familiar with Denver - or even if you're not - you might be interested in what Simmons does with its premiere indie bookstore, the Tattered Cover. When Nick visits the shop on East Colfax Street, he describes it thus:

Makes sense to me.

Number Three: The delivery. Flashback is a long book, a very long book, actually (550 pages), but it hardly dragged at all for me. The story chugs right along with plenty of action, plenty of suspense, and plenty of fascinating detours that added new layers to the plot. I'm not saying it's the best book I've ever read, I'm just saying that it was entertaining. And thought-provoking. Surprisingly so for a gritty, airport-guy thriller. I surprised myself by really enjoying it. Shocked? I am.

(Readalikes: Even though Flashback has nothing to do with zombies, it reminded me a little bit of The Passage by Justin Cronin.)

Grade: B

If this were a movie, it would be rated: R for strong language, violence, and sexual content

To the FTC, with love: Another library fine find