Coulter Zahn is a brilliant scientist working on his PhD at MIT. His life is complicated by a pregnant wife and the reappearance of his estranged mother. Noah begins to experience alternative episodes of his life, past, present and future, is this tied to his work on quantum physics and String Theory in the theendless search for the Grand Unified Theory, or is Coulter cracking? It's cleverly constructed story of wheels within wheels (realities within realities) but by the end it seemed like the complexity was grand edifice built on not much foundation, the plot spiraled but after a while got lost in itself and the characters were thinly written. The science was fascinating but the plot failed to measure up.

Thank you to publisher and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Please see my full review on Goodreads. I would describe this story as mind bending! Superb writing and storytelling - will definitely be reading more books by this author. My suggestion would be to read it with others, like a book club, as there will be lots to discuss afterwards! Highly recommend if you enjoy alternate reality psychological thrillers.

Surprised and delighted by this work of Noah Milligan. The story takes the reader from obsessive wanting, to sacrificing need—the point of losing all—to bits of madness. And while the author takes the reader on the twists and turns of his character’s obsession, the reader never loses the perspective of reality. Coulter Zahn is a mad scientist you hope will stop before going completely insane while also wishing him to discover the greatest contribution to science since Einstein. Milligan is an author to keep on the“follow” list.

Coulter is doing his PhD in quantum physics at MIT and his supervisors have suggested he abandon his thesis and start again on another topic as he is making no progress. However he doggedly sticks with his model and as his days consists of pressing the Enter key repeatedly as each computation, one of millions, is tried and fails, his mind wanders as he daydreams of winning the Nobel prize, his childhood where his mother abandons him, and his wife Sara who is pregnant with their first child. Or is she? The novel weaves it way through different time periods and alternate realities or universes so that the reader questions the entire narrative. The writing is good and the structure clever. There can be multiple interpretations of this story. Great for bookclubs!

Coulter is working on his PhD, his wife is pregnant, his estranged mother returns to his life. He is under a lot of stress. He begins having sort of hallucinations or false memories of different version of his life (past, present and future). It was well written. I enjoyed parts of it, but in the end I wasn't that thrilled. I don't really like when I finish a book and have to figure out which parts actually happened. 3 stars because it wasn't bad, but I didn't like the last part of the book.

This is a novel that starts off like a science textbook and proceeds like a mad existential trip and yet somehow never ceases to be as elegant as the title. In fact it's such a strange book it would be difficult to describe and even more so to recommend, but I found it to be terrific and by far one of the most original works of recent fiction. If you're into linear narrative and reliable narrators, don't even try this one...it's all over the place, narration alternates from first to third person, timelines alternate with easy and frequency varying times and realities. Yes, realities, this is, after all, a book about quantum physics, specifically strings theory. The protagonist is an ambitious scientist, who might just make the most important discovery since Einstein's theory of relativity, if he manages to deal with his troubled marriage and equally challenging family life. It's a dizzying ride of a book, it really is, and not the easiest of reads, but a very rewarding one. Milligan doesn't just get the science right, he also succeeds tremendously with the dramatic writing, his relationship depictions are visceral, stunning and strikingly emotionally intelligent. If you can wrap your mind around 11 dimensions and in the mood to try something different, this is just the book. Awesomely impressive debut. Enthusiastically recommended. Thanks Netgalley.