It has been a while but I finally finished a book again! And an eARC at that! So today I finally have a review for you all again. The book I finished is The 22 Murders of Madison May, an adult sci-fi mystery. Not my usual genre but also not that far from what I like to read. The title is definitely what grabbed my attention first. Let’s see how I feel about the rest of the book! From the critically acclaimed author of Jennifer Government and Lexicon comes mind-bending speculative psychological suspense about a serial killer pursuing his victim across time and space, and the woman who is determined to stop him, even if it upends her own reality.
I love you. In every world.
Young real estate agent Madison May is shocked when a client at an open house says these words to her. The man, a stranger, seems to know far too much about her, and professes his love--shortly before he murders her.
Felicity Staples hates reporting on murders. As a journalist for a midsize New York City paper, she knows she must take on the assignment to research Madison May's shocking murder, but the crime seems random and the suspect is in the wind. That is, until Felicity spots the killer on the subway, right before he vanishes.
Soon, Felicity senses her entire universe has shifted. No one remembers Madison May, or Felicity's encounter with the mysterious man. And her cat is missing. Felicity realizes that in her pursuit of Madison's killer, she followed him into a different dimension--one where everything about her existence is slightly altered. At first, she is determined to return to the reality she knows, but when Madison May--in this world, a struggling actress--is murdered again, Felicity decides she must find the killer--and learns that she is not the only one hunting him.
Traveling through different realities, Felicity uncovers the opportunity--and danger--of living more than one life.
The 22 Murders of Madison May by Max Barry
Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons on 06/07/2021
Pages: 336
Goodreads
Cover
The cover isn’t anything special but I do like it. I enjoy simple designs and this one has a cool thing going on in the middle. The girl disappears through a kind of crack and it fits the story perfectly. While the colors aren’t my favorite, I’m not bothered by them either. Overall it’s a pretty good cover in my opinion!
Review
This was a super interesting scifi, with a bit of a thriller/murder mystery aspect. We follow Felicity who is a reporter. She is reporting on a crime story and all of a sudden finds herself in the middle of the mystery. After a weird encounter though small things seem changed when she gets home. One of her cats doesn’t seem to exist and the murder she was reporting on didn’t happen. What is going on?
I really liked the concept. It was a bit confusing at first, but that also fits the story. Slowly you learn more about this universe and how some things work. You find this out along side Felicity and it was nice being in the dark together. However, not everything becomes clear or is explained.
This isn’t a super technical or sci-fi-y book so it’s definitely good for sci-fi newbies. A bit like Becky Chambers’ books, if you normally enjoy contemporary stories those are the sci-fi books you should go for first. And if you normally enjoy mysteries or thrillers, this is a sci-fi I would recommend to you.
We mostly follow the story through Felicity but every now and then we get a chapter from Maddie. Those chapters were really interesting, every time we get a slightly different Maddie but she’s still recognisable as her. I really liked that change in POV’s.
There wasn’t a lot of character development but that was okay, it’s not that kind of story anyone. Felicity was well developed. She had her flaws but was overall an enjoyable character. The other characters were less well rounded but it didn’t bother me too much.
I liked how the story was wrapped up. There wasn’t another ending I could’ve imagined so I was definitely happy. I would pick up another book by this author in the future. Hopefully we get some more interesting sci-fi’s! I ended up giving this one 4 stars. Would you pick up this book? Or have you read it already? Let me know in the comments!
