Version Control

Starred review from December 14, 2015
Palmer’s lengthy, complex, highly challenging second novel is more brilliant than his debut, The Dream of Perpetual Motion. Philip Steiner is working to develop a causality-violation device—a machine that will make it possible to visit and interact with the past. Meanwhile, Philip’s wife, Rebecca Wright, an employee at an online dating company, must cope with past tragedy. Far more than a standard-model time travel saga, this science thriller deals with love, politics, history, loss, tragedy, bonding, craft beers, jogging, Internet dating, alcoholism, temptation, sin, redemption, rock ’n’ roll, jazz, Rudolph Fisher, and gourmet cooking. It takes place in the very near future, or perhaps in a slightly variant universe where reality can vary from one moment to the next. Is that really Ronald Reagan’s face on a $20 bill, or the face of another president (definitely not Andrew Jackson)? Humorous set pieces include an utterly hilarious cocktail party set in a luxurious high-rise condo overlooking New York’s Central Park. Palmer earned his doctorate from Princeton with a thesis on the works of James Joyce, Thomas Pynchon, and William Gaddis. This book stands with the masterpieces of those authors. Agent: Susan Golomb, Writers House.

Starred review from December 15, 2015
A Mobius strip of a novel in which time is more a loop than a path and various possibilities seem to exist simultaneously. Science fiction provides a literary launching pad for this audacious sophomore novel by Palmer (The Dream of Perpetual Motion, 2010). It offers some of the same pleasures as one of those state-of-the-union (domestic and national) epics by Jonathan Franzen, yet its speculative nature becomes increasingly apparent as the novel progresses (while its characters apparently don't). From the first page, protagonist Rebecca Wright, who works at a computer dating service, feels a "weird, persistent unease"; she thinks the world around her suffers from "a certain subtle wrongness." Her physicist husband, Philip Steiner, heads a team that's working on what others would call a time machine, though the scientists avoid that label; they don't think their project will create a true time machine, but their research (and even their mistakes) might provide useful discoveries along the way. Rebecca and Philip's son, Sean, who's in second grade, has been an artistic prodigy since preschool, according to his mother, but his father doesn't understand him at all. As Palmer's narrative offers sleight-of-hand revelations with absolute command, it becomes apparent that the time they are living in, which often seems to be a comment on the present, is in fact the near future, one in which automobiles drive themselves and the president is capable of appearing on anyone's home TV to address them personally. It's also increasingly obvious that Rebecca is an alcoholic, in deep denial. The plot pivots on a climactic car crash, a malfunction of the automatic automobile, after Sean has been unfairly disciplined with a detention at school, Rebecca is too inebriated to leave the house, and Philip is too busy at work to intercede, leaving the question of who is behind the wheel and who survives subject to revision. The novel circles back to this pivotal incident time and again; as this plot writes and then overwrites itself, each member of the nuclear family might possibly die, yet all remain crucial to the denouement. Muses Philip, "Ulysses is not a story, so much as a system of the world. A place for everything, and everything in its place." A novel brimming with ideas, ambition, imagination, and possibility yet one in which the characters remain richly engaging for the reader.

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September 1, 2016

In the very near future, self-driving cars and the use of artificial intelligence are becoming increasingly commonplace, social media has expanded its dominating role in people's lives, and a small group of physicists are close to producing the first quantitative proof of space-time anomalies. The main characters are millennials in their early to late 30s, and the story revolves around their day-to-day lives and interactions. Palmer takes his time building a world that at first seems only slightly futuristic and even somewhat mundane in its similarities to the present day. Some teens will find the slow start difficult, but those who make it through the first half of the story will begin to recognize the all-too-real possibilities for what their own futures might hold. Quantum physics, race relations, the power of social media, amoral technology, and politics are all topics of high interest among many teens. Palmer shines a disturbing spotlight on these issues, exposing the ease with which our lives can be manipulated without our awareness. VERDICT Teens with a keen interest in physical science or social psychology will find this a particularly satisfying, albeit disturbing, read.-Cary Frostick, formerly at Mary Riley Styles Public Library, Falls Church, VA

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 1, 2016
Palmer follows his surrealistic debut, The Dream of Perpetual Motion (2010), with this mind-bending view of the practice of science in the near future. In an information age in which most cars drive themselves, the Dakotas are fighting fiercely to secede from the U.S.; meanwhile avatars of the president communicate regularly with citizens, and physicist Philip Steiner is testing his causality violation device, which he strongly resists calling a time-travel machine. Steiner's wife, Rebecca Wright, is finding the world severely out of sync. Rebecca, a customer-support representative for Lovability, the online dating site through which she met Philip, still mourns the death of their son, Sean, in a highway accident caused by a malfunctioning autonomous vehicle. Philip, who's experiencing repeated failures in the testing of the causality violation device, keeps in mind that failure is common, even routine, in science. He also continues to get funding, finally from the shadowy Mr. Cheever, who expresses an interest in unexpected and possibly profitable outcomes. And when Philip's brilliant colleague, Alicia Merrill, uncovers his code comments and applies version control, the results of the device become more clear. A compelling, thought-provoking view of time and reality.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

May 15, 2016

Rebecca struggles--with grief, with her work-obsessed physicist husband, with alcoholism, and with the subtle, unshakable sense that the world she lives in is wrong. If past decisions and a single violent tragedy are the history that make Rebecca and Philip who they are, what if something were to happen to that past? VERDICT Complicated, human characters, fascinating ideas, and witty, socially conscious prose make this title engaging fare for any reader and a sure bet for fans of Neal Stephenson and Connie Willis. (LJ 1/16)

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from January 1, 2016

Do not call it a time machine! It is a causality violation device, or CVD. In Palmer's (The Dream of Perpetual Motion) second novel set 15 years in the future, Philip Steiner is a brilliant physicist working on disrupting the space-time continuum with a CVD. His wife, Rebecca, the main protagonist, has to deal with an absent husband--his project still a failure after ten years--and overcoming a terrible personal loss. Rebecca finds solace in her old friend Kate and at her job with an online dating service; however, she notices that certain things don't appear correct but can't quite place her finger on what is off. VERDICT Palmer presents a fresh twist on the time-travel trope; his story line requires a close reading to enjoy the subtle foreshadowing and themes as the protagonists discover that it's possible the CVD is not as useless as once thought. The characters are complex and flawed but thoroughly worthy of attention. Fans of Palmer's previous book, time travel, near-future technologies, and sf will find great enjoyment here. [See Prepub Alert, 8/24/15.]--Jason L. Steagall, Gateway Technical Coll. Lib., Elkhorn, WI

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2015

Weird things are happening to Rebecca Wright, which might have something to do with physicist husband Philip's seemingly harebrained work on a causality violation device. Like Palmer's debut, the well-reviewed The Dream of Perpetual Motion, speculative fiction for the smart set.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2016

Do not call it a time machine! It is a causality violation device, or CVD. In Palmer's (The Dream of Perpetual Motion) second novel set 15 years in the future, Philip Steiner is a brilliant physicist working on disrupting the space-time continuum with a CVD. His wife, Rebecca, the main protagonist, has to deal with an absent husband--his project still a failure after ten years--and overcoming a terrible personal loss. Rebecca finds solace in her old friend Kate and at her job with an online dating service; however, she notices that certain things don't appear correct but can't quite place her finger on what is off. VERDICT Palmer presents a fresh twist on the time-travel trope; his story line requires a close reading to enjoy the subtle foreshadowing and themes as the protagonists discover that it's possible the CVD is not as useless as once thought. The characters are complex and flawed but thoroughly worthy of attention. Fans of Palmer's previous book, time travel, near-future technologies, and sf will find great enjoyment here. [See Prepub Alert, 8/24/15.]--Jason L. Steagall, Gateway Technical Coll. Lib., Elkhorn, WI

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.