https://tamaranth.blogspot.com/2024/04/2024051-expect-me-tomorrow-christopher.ht... ( )

Chris Priest is one of my favourite authors, but this wasn't a good book. Better than his recent An American story, but that's all. Several strands of the story never really come together. A lot of undigested research is dumped on the reader with little finesse. And again, just like An American story, partly based on the premise that scientists are wrong (the climate) or the establishment has been lying to us (9/11). I see no good reason for that, because those premises were not used well. And other weirdnesses, like that in the future, radio communication will be possible with the past, but that doesn't cause any sensations, it is just accepted with a shrug by the protagonists. One strand of the story seems to be just the author's fascination with a forgotten 19th century court case.

No, this book simply didn't come together. ( )

DNF. Didn’t engage my interest. ( )

I am coming late to Christopher Priest’s party. He is a well-established, well-reviewed English novelist I have somehow missed. Expect Me Tomorrow is a carefully crafted piece of work. The tone is just right for the subject matter. It has a sly take on the vagaries of the historical record, climate change, social media, the surveillance state, and what Dr. Who would call timey wimey. A police profiler in 2050 with a misbehaving social-media implant makes intermittent contact with twin brothers in the late 19th century. One is an opera singer falsely accused of fraud. The other is an unappreciated climate scientist. We find out from a bibliography at the end that at least part of this story is sort of true. I will have to read some more of Priest’s novels. 4 stars. ( )